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Indiana Authors and their books, 1816-1980.
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page: 233[View Page: 233]

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NASH, WILLARD GLOVER: 1833-1893.

" Willard G. Nash was born in Maine in July, 1833, and died at Addison, Me., Oct. 11, 1893. He came with his father, Addison Nash, to Logansport in page: 234[View Page 234] 1843 and was educated in the Logansport schools. On Nov. 17, 1855, he married Mary J. Aldrich of Logansport. They had six children. Mr. Nash was sheriff of Cass County from 1862 to 1866, County Auditor from 1866 to 1870 and editor of the LOGANSVORT PHAROS from 1871 to 1875. He was a fluent and caustic writer and., published A Century of Gossip which portrays the characters in a New England village of which a miserly parson is the main character."

From Powell–History of Cass County, 1913.

  • A Century of Gossip; or, the Real and the Seeming of New England Life. Chicago, 1876.Search "A Century of Gossip; or, the Real and the Seeming of New England Life" by NASH, WILLARD GLOVER: 1833-1893. in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust

NATHAN, GEORGE JEAN: 1882-

George Jean Nathan , a plant rather more exotic than might have been expected to spring from the Indiana corn-lands, was a considerable force in guiding the renaissance of the American essay, of verse and of criticism during the first World War and in the Twenties.

H. L. Mencken and Nathan, first in the SMART SET, then in the AMERICAN MERCURY, set the pace and the style and pruned back the ebullience of young American literary hopefuls from 1914 to 1930. That was a period which saw the American taste desert the total allegiance which it had given to the novel during the two or three preceding decades, and this dissatisfaction was unquestionably for the good.

Nathan's production became only occasional after the end of the Twenties, but he had crowded into the first forty-two years of his life a career of sufficient importance, and marked by activity enough, to have served to memorialize half a dozen names.

Unlike the majority of western writers transferred to the metropolitan scene, Nathan gave no evidence of his midwestern beginnings. He divorced himself completely from the back-country and became highly sophisticated. In speaking of himself he is, in fact, a bit too detached, too elegantly above the world, for plausibility -for his writing, his criticism and his editing displayed a warmth certainly not capable of having sprung from such a source as Nathan makes himself appear to have been.

Nathan is best described by a contemporary, writing for Living Authors:

" 'What interests me most in life,' confesses George Jean Nathan, the American dramatic critic, 'is the surface of life: life's music and color, its charm and ease, its humor and its loveliness. The great problems of the world–social, political, economic and theological -do not concern me in the slightest … If all the Armenians were to be killed tomorrow and if half of Russia were to starve to death the day after, it would not matter to me in the least. What concerns me alone is myself and the interests of a few close friends.'

"His life has been called a comedy of manners. A bachelor by choice, he has lived for the past twenty years in a theatrically luxurious, if somewhat fusty, apartment on the top floor of a venerable apartment hotel on West Forty-fourth Street, New York . The apartment is noted for its 'divans, cushions, shaded lights, and various elegant devices for the holding, passing around, and consumption of alcoholic liquors.' He is a handsome, dapper man of medium height, with dark eyes widely set and a slightly smiling mouth. He eats well and smokes incessantly. Long ivory cigarette holders are among his favorite accessories. His wardrobe included thirty-eight overcoats at the last published inventory, ranging from 'heavy Russian fur to the flimsiest homespun … and one with an alpine hood attachment.'

"George Jean Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Feb. 14, 1882, but it seems doubtful whether he will ever look more than thirty-five. He received his A.B. degree in 1904 from Cornell University, where he edited one of the college papers, and spent the following year in Italy at the University of Bologna. On his return to the United States he worked on the editorial staff of the NEW YORK HERALD (1905-06); and from 1906 to 1908 he was dramatic critic and associate editor of the BOHEMIAN MAGAZINE and OUTING. In 1908 began his famous association with the SMART SET, of which he was dramatic critic until 1923 and co-editor with Mencken from 1914 to 1923. THE AMERICAN MERCURY was founded by Nathan and Mencken in 1924; Nathan was co-editor until 1925, and from 1925 to 1930 he was contributing editor. Although he has given up active editorial connection with the MERCURY, Nathan can hardly be said to be idling: he is dramatic editor of JUDGE (since 1922) and THE NEW FREEMAN (since 1930), consulting editor of ARTS AND DECORATION (since 1924), and editorial contributor to the LONDON DAILY EXPRESS and the LONDON SUNDAY CHRONICLE. He is the one living American dramatic critic with an international reputation. In prestige he is the successor of Huneker, at whose feet he sat in his early newspaper days in New York , when it was a great privilege to drink Pilsener with that prodigious conversationalist page: 235[View Page 235] at the round table sanctum in Scheffel Hall off Union Square. Nathan likes to hark back to those days.

"No criticism can be crueler than Nathan's… when he wants to be cruel. He has no patience with bad plays. His exits from the theatre are watched with grave concern. If he gathers up his stick and high hat and strides up the aisle at the end of the first act, the producers weep; if he stays through the second act, they become animated with hope; if he remains till the final curtain–which is Nathan's great silent compliment–there is no limit to their exuberance. That is not to imply that Nathan himself is incapable of enthusiasm. 'He brings to the theatre,' writes Ernest .Boyd, 'an endless delight and interest in all its manifestations, and he is as happy to praise the beautiful body of a Ziegfeld Follies girl as the first manuscript of a Eugene O'Neill, to applaud a W. C. Fields as a Dunsany, to do propaganda for native organizations like the Washington Square Players, the Neighborhood Playhouse, and the Provincetown Theatre, as for foreign dramatists as dissimilar as Lennox Robinson, Schnitzler, Scan O'Casey, Molnar, Shaw, and Sacha Guitry. And he will deride all these with equal gusto when pretentiousness causes them to deteriorate …'

"Nathan denies that he is an iconoclast or cynic (except regarding marriage, politics, and bad plays). He cites his early editorship with Mencken of the SMART SET as proof of his constructive attitude. This magazine was the first to recognize Eugene O'Neill and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Nathan also points to his espousal of the cause of Dreiser, 'the most important American author'; of Sinclair Lewis, 'the most significant'; and of Willa Cather, 'the best of our stylists.'

"Nathan's deliberately insolent attitudes and confessions might persuade us to regard him as a quite inhuman and unbearable person, 'but the truth is,' we are told, 'he is a highly entertaining and pleasant fellow, whose very hypochondria is not distressing, even when it takes the strange form of perpetually plugging his nostrils with pink cotton over which some medicinal incantation has been pronounced, or of unceasingly inhaling a tube of menthol–these being apparently his chief winter sports.'"

From Living Authors, edited by Dilly Tante, published by the H. W. Wilson Company, 1932.

NEEDHAM, WILLIAM P.: 1853-1899.

Born in Fountain City, Ind., on Dec. 11, 1853, William P. Needham attended the public schools of northern Wayne County until he was twelve years old. He then entered the office of the WINCHESTER ( Ind. ) JOURNAL to learn printing and eventually became the successful editor and publisher of the WINCHESTER PHANTASMAGORIAN. He was town clerk of Winchester for twenty years. Mr. Needham died in 1899.

page: 236[View Page 236]

Information from Parker and Heiney–Poets and Poetry of Indiana.

NEFF, FLORA TRUEBLOOD BENNETT (MRS. J. N.): ?-

" Flora Trueblood was graduated from Kokomo high school in 1878. In 1895 she married Dr. J. N. Neff and moved with him to Logansport, Ind. In 1911 she published a book of poems… She was an active temperance worker."

From Powell–History of Cass County, 1913.

  • Along Life's Pathway: a Poem in Four Cantos with Recreations. Logansport, Ind., 1911.Search "Along Life's Pathway: a Poem in Four Cantos with Recreations" by NEFF, FLORA TRUEBLOOD BENNETT (MRS. J. N.): ?- in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust

NEFF, THEODORE LEE: 1858-1936.

Theodore Lee Neff was born in Hartford City, Ind., in 1858. He attended De Pauw University, receiving the Ph.D. and A.M. degrees, and received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1896, where he served as a faculty member for several years. He died in Kansas City on Nov. 11, 1936, and was buried at Greencastle, Ind.

Information from the Indiana State Library.

  • La Satire des Femmes dabs la Poesie Lyrique Française du Moyen Age. Paris, 1900.Search "La Satire des Femmes dabs la Poesie Lyrique Française du Moyen Age" by NEFF, THEODORE LEE: 1858-1936. in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust

NELSON, N. ELVlRA KING (MRS. GEORGE): ?-?

Elvira King , "daughter of Robert F. and Eliza T. King, was born and reared in Boone County, Ind. Four years after the death of her father in 1878, the family moved to Mooresville, Ind. She married a Civil War veteran, George Nelson of Mooresville, and died while still a young woman. Her husband died in 1941.

Information from Clarence M. Marine, of Indianapolis.

NESBIT, WILBUR DICK: 1871-1927.

Wilbur Dick Nesbit , son of John Harvey and Isabel Fichthorne Nesbit, was born in Xenia, O., on Sept. 16, 1871, and was educated in the public schools of Cedarville, O.

He became a printer and in 1889 located in Anderson, Ind., where he became editor of the ANDERSON TIMES. He subsequently moved to Muncie, Ind., then to Indianapolis and, while in the latter city, engaged in advertising work. His contributions also appeared in many issues of the INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL. After a period in the East as a feature writer for the BALTIMORE AMERICAN, he went to Chicago as a member of the staff of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE–for which he conducted the column "A Line o' Type or Two" for many years–and later the CHICAGO EVENING POST. Before his death, on Aug. 20, 1927, he was vice- president and director of the copy staff of the William H. Rankin advertising agency of Chicago.

Mr. Nesbit was nationally known as a toastmaster and after-dinner speaker and was in great demand as such. He wrote, in addition to his published books, the book of "The Girl of My Dreams," a successful musical comedy, and other theatrical features. He sometimes worked in collaboration with C. A. Briggs, well-known cartoonist.

In 1899 he married Mary Lou Jenkins, daughter of Dr. J. H. Jenkins of Shelbyville.

Information from Dunn–Indiana and Indianans, Who Was Who in America; and the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, Aug. 21, 1927.

NEW, CATHERINE MCLAEN: 1870-

Catherine McLaen New was born in Toronto, Ont., Canada, in 1870. In 1891 she married Harry Stewart New of Indianapolis, postmaster-general, 1923-29, from whom she was later divorced. She lived in Indianapolis for a number of years.

Information from the Indianapolis Public Library.

NICHOLAS, .ANNA: 1849-1929.

Anna Nicholas , daughter of Dr. John and Rachel Gardiner Nicholas, was born in 1849 in Meadville, Pa., where she attended public and private schools. For fifty-three years she was on the staff of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR and its predecessor, the JOURNAL, as an editorial writer, book reviewer, and contributor of miscellaneous writings. She also contributed to other newspapers and periodicals. She died Nov. 29, 1929.

Information from Who's Who in America and the Indianapolis Public Library.

NICHOLS, REBECCA REED (MRS. WILLARD): 1819-1903.

Rebecca Reed , daughter of Dr. E. B. Reed, was born in New Jersey in 1819, resided in Philadelphia for a time and came west with her father when quite young, spending some time in Louisville before coming to Indiana. In 1838 she married Willard Nichols, a printer who was interested in literature.

For more than twenty-five years she was a resident of Indianapolis. She contributed verse to newspapers and periodicals, her most productive period being between 1840 and 1855.

Information from Parker and Heiney–Poets and Poetry of Indiana.

NICHOLSON, MEREDITH: 1866-1947.

Meredith Nicholson was born in Crawfordsville, Ind., on Dec. 9, 1866, the son of Edward Willis and Emily Meredith Nicholson. The father was born in Kentucky , of a long line extending back to colonial days. Coming to Montgomery County, Ind., as a young man, Edward Nicholson soon became one of the substantial farmers of that county, a member of the Montgomery Guards, a Zouave company which became in the Civil War the nucleus of the Eleventh Indiana Infantry, commanded by Gen. Lew Wallace. At the end of three months' service Nicholson enlisted in the artillery, becoming captain of the Twenty-second Indiana Battery. He continued with his command until the close of the war, having been with Sherman on the march to the sea and having sighted and fired the first gun at the Battle of Shiloh.

The mother of Meredith Nicholson was born at Centerville, Ind., the daughter of an early settler there, Samuel Caldwell Meredith, one of the pioneer editors and publishers of that district. As a young woman during the Civil War, she gave effective services as a nurse in the South. Shortly after the close of the war, she and Capt. Nicholson were married and took up their residence in Crawfordsville, where their son page: 238[View Page 238] (and his younger sister) were born. For a time during the war Capt. Nicholson had been assigned to detail duty in Indianapolis in the drilling of new batteries, so, in 1872, when young Meredith was about five years old, the family moved to the capital city, where they continued to reside until 1888, when Capt. Nicholson moved to Washington, D. C. His son, however, remained in Indianapolis, where he lived afterward, with the exception of the years spent in South and Central America with the State Department (1932-1942) and three years in Denver, Colo., in the late Nineties.

The background of the youthful Nicholson was thus set" the intense interest in the Civil War, due to the services and experiences of both of his parents, and the deep feeling for all that is characteristic of Hoosierdom and its inhabitants, their "folksy" qualities, sociable and companionable, the feeling for newspaper work, editorial and reportorial, which came down from his maternal grandfather, Samuel Meredith, and an appreciation of and respect for the pioneer spirit which went into the making of his native state of Indiana.

Of formal education he had no more than nine years in the Indianapolis public schools, leaving, when about fifteen, during his first year in high school. Then came a succession of jobs, always leading him nearer and nearer to his chosen work of writing. A brief spell as a clerk in a drug store and work in a printer's shop, where he learned the rudiments of the printer's trade plus a smattering of shorthand, a position as court reporter, then employment by a law firm followed. At the age of nineteen he commenced the study of law in the office of Dye and Fishback. Later he continued his studies under one of Indianapolis's outstanding lawyers of that day, William Wallace, brother of (ken. Lew Wallace.

It was during his days as a law student that Meredith Nicholson began to manifest his natural taste, using what spare time he could muster from his law books to begin his first serious efforts at writing. He had the usual success of the talented amateur: the local newspapers printed his efforts, but without pay. Before long, however, he became identified with newspaper work in Indianapolis. After a year on the INDIANAPOLIS SENTINEL, in 1884, he became a valued and versatile member of the editorial staff of the INDIANAPOLIS NEWS, where he remained from 1885 to 1897. After a year in stock brokerage, a three-year residence in Denver, Colo., followed, during which period he was auditor and treasurer of a coal-mining corporation.

Returning to Indianapolis at the turn of the century, he began to devote his entire time to literary work. Outside of his various newspaper writings during the 1890's, only one published volume stood to his credit –a book of poems entitled Short Flights, published in 1891. But from 1900 on his published writings were issued with increasing frequency. In that year he published The Hoosiers, a volume of brief historical essays, about which he once remarked that it was his personal favorite of all of his writings and the one by which he expected to be longest remembered. In particular, his essay on the variously attributed origins of the term Hoosier remains the best account of the beginning of that much-disputed word.

Progress had been slow up to the point where Nicholson received his first real pay for any of his writings, the earliest being the very modest sum—even for those days–of three dollars given him by an Eastern newspaper for a poem. A bit later he won a prize of ten dollars offered by a Chicago newspaper for a short story. The story was "The Tale of a Postage Stamp." These small returns were a far cry from the returns of a quarter of a century later when his books numbered among the best sellers of their day. With The Main Chance and Zelda Dameron, he became one of the best known of American writers, even abroad, where his House of a Thousand Candles was published in Paris in a French translation and drew the enthusiastic approval of French critics. His success, as shown by the accompanying bibliography, was consistent up to the time that he retired as a writer in the 1930's, but it was as an essayist rather than as a novelist that he preferred to be known–perhaps because at heart he was an editorialist. With a profound belief in democracy, he spoke for self-government and tolerance: because he believed in people he was fundamentally an optimist.

Always in his writing–especially in his essays– Nicholson remained a Hoosier, a midlander, varying from the majority viewpoint only in his political attachment, and even in that he remained, although a Democrat, a Jeffersonian Democrat, which is an understandable faith, even to the most dyed-in-the-wool midwestern Republicans.

He kept up a constant and lively interest in politics. President Wilson offered him the post of minister to Portugal in 1913 but he refused. Later he served as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the U. S. to Paraguay (1933-34), Venezuela (1935-38), and Nicaragua (1938-41), when he retired to private life in Indianapolis. In his last years he contributed many articles–mainly essays and editorials on his favorite subject, the Hoosier scene with its people, page: 239[View Page 239] its custom, its way of life–to the Indianapolis papers.

His lack of formal education after the first year of high school was more than compensated for by his own efforts. Filled with sincere regret that he had rejected the advice of his mother and had left school, he undertook, during his newspaper days, to make up for this deficiency by self-instruction in Latin and Greek as well as French and Italian, a knowledge of languages being considered in the 1880's as the mark of an educated man. Newspaper training showed in his handwriting, and even his personal notes and letters displayed the neat, small but legible handwriting, without indentation for paragraphs, which are merely indicated by the printer's sign, and they possess the same delightful style that endeared him to all reading Americans. His self-acquired knowledge of foreign languages contributed much to his writings in his mother tongue.

Both his literary attainments and his contributions to statesmanship were recognized with honorary degrees: from Wabash College, Butler University and Indiana University. He was also an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

On June 16, 1896, he married Eugenic Kountze, by whom he had three children, Elizabeth (Mrs. Austin H. Brown), Meredith, Jr., and Charles Lionel. Her death occurred in 1931, and he married Mrs. Dorothy Wolfe Lannon in 1933. They were divorced ten years later.

After his return from Nicaragua Mr. Nicholson resumed residence in Indianapolis, heart of the Hoosierland which he had done so much to publicize. The dean of Indiana litterateurs, he died in his eighty-first year on Dec. 22, 1947–still as ardent a Hoosier as might be found.

Information from the children of Meredith Nicholson.

NICHOLSON, WATSON: 1866-

Watson Nicholson , son of Abraham and Maria Davis Nicholson, was born in Pendleton, Ind., on Sept. 23, 1866. He was a student for three years at Indiana University and graduated from Stanford University in 1892, receiving the A.M. degree from Harvard in 1895 and the Ph.D. from Yale in 1903. From 1884 to 1887 he was a teacher in the schools of Indiana, and from 1892 to 1901–with the exception of two years spent at Harvard–he taught in California . He married Florence Emily Beaver in 1897.

He engaged in university extension teaching from 1903 until 1905, when he became an instructor in English literature in the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale. From 1910 to 1915 he was employed by the British Museum.

Information from Who's Who in America.

  • A Syllabus of Six Lectures on American Literature, with Bibliography. Philadelphia, 1903.Search "A Syllabus of Six Lectures on American Literature, with Bibliography" by NICHOLSON, WATSON: 1866- in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
  • The Struggle for a Free Stage in London. Boston, 1906.Search "The Struggle for a Free Stage in London" by NICHOLSON, WATSON: 1866- in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
  • The Historical Sources of DeFoe's "Journal of the Plague Year." Boston, 1919.Search "The Historical Sources of DeFoe's "Journal of the Plague Year" by NICHOLSON, WATSON: 1866- in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
  • Anthony Aston, Stroller and Adventurer; to Which Is Appended Aston's Brief Supplement to Colley Cibber's Lives; and a Sketch of the Life of Anthony Aston, Written by Himself. South Haven, Mich., 1920.Search "Anthony Aston, Stroller and Adventurer; to Which Is Appended Aston's Brief Supplement to Colley Cibber's Lives; and a Sketch of the Life of Anthony Aston, Written by Himself" by NICHOLSON, WATSON: 1866- in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
page: 240[View Page 240]

NOBLE, HARRIETT: 1851-?

Born in Centerville, Ind., in 1851, Harriett Noble is believed to have been a resident of Indiana throughout most of her life.

Information from the Emmeline Fairbanks Memorial Library, Terre Haute, Ind., and from book-dealers' catalogs.

NOLL, JOHN FRANCIS: 1875-

John Francis Noll , son of John G. and Anna Ford Noll, was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Jan. 25, 1875. He attended St. Lawrence College and graduated from Nit. St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati in 1898, receiving the LL.D. degree from Notre Dame in 1917. In 1898 he was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and occupied pulpits in various Indiana towns until 1925, when he was consecrated Bishop of Fort Wayne . He was highly successful in church and institutional building and fund raising and in 1904 founded the periodical, OUR SUNDAY VISITOR.

Information from Who's Who in America.

NORRIS, ALLEN ANSON: ?-

Little is known of Allen Anson Norris except that he received the A.B. degree from Indiana University in 1902 and was serving as superintendent of the Syracuse, Ind., schools in 1904.

Since his one book was published in Bloomington in 1898, either before he began college work or during an interim in study, it may be assumed that he was a resident of the state for a considerable period of time.

Information from Indiana University, 1820-1904.

NOWLAND, JOHN HENRY BYRNE: 1813-1899.

Born in Frankfort, Ky., in 1813, John H. B. Nowland , son of Matthias R. Nowland, came with his family to Indianapolis when he was seven years old. The site of what was to become Indianapolis had just been chosen for the new state capital, and the Nowland family first lived in a log cabin which had not been completed as to chimney, windows, or door, so, according to John H. B. Nowland, the occupants made their exits and entrances through a space made by removing one of the logs. When town lots were auctioned off in 1821, the family purchased lots and built a cabin in which they lived for forty-five years.

In 1840 John Nowland married Amelia T. Smith, in the first church wedding to take place in the community. Mr. Nowland evinced a deep interest in local history and had a wealth of first-hand information on such matters. He died Aug. 1, 1899.

Information from the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, Nov. 9, 1930, and the Indianapolis Public Library.

  • Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, with Short Biographical Sketches of Its Early Citizens, and a Few of the Prominent Business Men of the Present Day. Indianapolis, 1870.Search "Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, with Short Biographical Sketches of Its Early Citizens, and a Few of the Prominent Business Men of the Present Day" by NOWLAND, JOHN HENRY BYRNE: 1813-1899. in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
  • Sketches of Prominent Citizens of 1876, with a Few of the Pioneers of the City and County Who Have Passed Away. Indianapolis, 1877.Search "Sketches of Prominent Citizens of 1876, with a Few of the Pioneers of the City and County Who Have Passed Away" by NOWLAND, JOHN HENRY BYRNE: 1813-1899. in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
  • Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 1820-'76. Indianapolis, 1879.Search "Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis, 1820-'76" by NOWLAND, JOHN HENRY BYRNE: 1813-1899. in IUCAT, Google Books, OCLC WorldCat, or HathiTrust
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