Samuel Thomas Pickard

Background

He was born on March 1, 1828 in Rowley, Massachussets, United States, son of Samuel and Sarah (Coffin) Pickard.

When he was four years old, his family removed to Auburn, Maine, where his father became treasurer of the Lewiston Manufacturing Company, a position he held for forty years. The boy spent his youth in Auburn.

Education

He secured his education in the elementary schools of Auburn and at Lewiston Falls Academy. In 1844, after he had completed his course of study at the academy, he went to Portland and there learned the printer's trade.

Career

When he had finished his apprenticeship, he became associated with Benjamin P. Shillaber in the publication of a humorous paper, the Carpet Bag, at Boston, Massachussets. In 1852 he sold his interest in this paper to Charles G. Halpine and returned to Portland.

In January 1853 he joined E. P. Weston in the publication of the Eclectic. In April 1855 this journal was merged with the Portland Transcript, and Pickard became one of its editors and joint owner with Weston, whose interest was later purchased by Pickard's brother, Charles W. Pickard, and with Edward H. Elwell. Its subscribers exceeded in number by thousands those of any other paper in Maine.

After nearly forty years, Pickard retired from the editorship of the Transcript and went to live in Amesbury and Boston, Massachussets, where during the remainder of his life he was engaged in literary work.

For many years Samuel Pickard was a close personal friend and great admirer of the Quaker Poet, and on Whittier's death, in accordance with his expressed desire, became his literary executor and biographer. Pickard's Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, which was published in 1894 and has passed through several editions, is written with excellent taste and simple sincerity such as the poet would have desired.

In 1897 he published a little volume, Hawthorne's First Diary, which purports to contain several authentic excerpts from a journal which Hawthorne was supposed to have kept during his boyhood days in Raymond, Maine. Later Pickard became doubtful of the genuineness of this diary and withdrew the book from further sale.

After a long life of useful activity, he died in Amesbury, Massachussets, in Whittier's old home.

Achievements

• Samuel Thomas Pickard was one of the most influencial editors of the Portland Transcript, under his administratuin it became one of the most influential papers in New England. His most important book - Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. Besides, he was the author of numerous reviews and monographs, two of which are "Portland" and "Edward Henry Elwell. "

Works

More photos

• book

  • Hawthorne's First Diary, With an Account of Its Discovery and Loss

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Life and letters of John Greenleaf Whittier Volume 1

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Whittier-land A Handbook of North Essex, Containing Many Anecdotes of and Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier Never Before Collected.

Connections

On April 19, 1876, Pickard married Elizabeth Hussey Whittier, a niece of John Greenleaf Whittier and a daughter of Moses F. and Jane E. (Vaughan) Whittier. By this marriage he had one son. His wife died in Boston, April 9, 1902.

Father:

Samuel Pickard

Mother:

Sarah (Coffin) Pickard

Spouse:

Elizabeth Hussey Whittier

coworker:

Edward H. Elwell

coworker:

E. P. Weston

Brother:

Charles W. Pickard

associate:

Benjamin P. Shillaber