Daniel Kimball Whitaker

Background

Daniel Kimball Whitaker was born on April 13, 1801 in Sharon, Massachussets, the son of the Rev. Jonathan and Mary (Kimball) Whitaker.

Education

Preparatory to entering Harvard College, he was educated by his father, a scholar of achievement, and at various small academies. He received the degree of B. A. from Harvard in 1820 and the degree of M. A. in 1823.

Career

Upon leaving Harvard he studied privately for the ministry and received a license to preach. When ill health compelled him to try a warmer climate he made a successful preaching tour through several Southern states accompanied by his father. In 1823 his health failed to improve and he abandoned the ministry to live on a farm in South Carolina, and for ten years he devoted himself to the culture of rice and cotton. When country life became too tranquil for him he moved to Charleston where he studied law and established a practice. He tried several important cases successfully and was known as an orator, but soon he wearied of law and turned to literature. He organized and edited a number of periodicals, including the Southern Literary Journal and Magazine of Arts, in Charleston, from 1835 to 1837, the Southern Quarterly Review, New Orleans, 1842-47, and the New Orleans Monthly Review, New Orleans, 1874-76. Of these the Southern Quarterly Review was most successful. It was published in New Orleans instead of Charleston in order to command a more extensive circulation throughout the South and Southwest. Whitaker secured a subscription list of $16, 000 and engaged some of the best-known writers of the South as contributors. William Gilmore Simms wrote for the magazine frequently although he disliked Whitaker personally. About January 1847 the Review was bought by a Charleston gentleman who preferred Southern editorship and secured, first, J. Milton Clapp, and then William Gilmore Simms as editors. Whitaker returned to Charleston where he remained until 1866 when he took up residence again in New Orleans. During Buchanan's administration he held a government position. After the secession of South Carolina he was employed by the Post Office Department of the Confederate government. His scholarly interests, especially in the classics, were lifelong; he liked to analyze political and historical problems. He died in Houston, Tex. , and was buried in New Orleans.

Achievements

• For his dissertation on "The Literary Character of Dr. Samuel Johnson" he won the Boylston Medal; he also won the Bowdoin Medal for oratory. As a writer he was diffuse but often persuasive. "Whitaker is one of the best essayists in North America, " Poe is said to have written, "and stands in the foremost rank of elegant writers". He was a frequent contributor to the National Intelligencer, the Charleston Courier, and the New Orleans Times, but the best of his work appeared in the Southern Quarterly Review. As a person he seems to have inspired respect and affection.

Religion

To the surprise of his friends, familiar with his early prejudice against Catholicism, he was united with St. Patrick's Church of New Orleans in 1878.

Connections

Whitaker was twice married: his first wife bore him two sons. After her death he was married to Mrs. Mary Scrimzeour Miller, of South Carolina, the daughter of Samuel Furman. He had two daughters.

Father:

Rev. Jonathan Whitaker

Mother:

Mary (Kimball) Whitaker

Spouse:

Mrs. Mary Scrimzeour Miller