Author: Nack, James
Biography:
NACK, James (1809-79: WBIS)
A native of New York City, he lived there all his life. (He is sometimes given a middle initial, M.) His father is said to have been a merchant who suffered losses. The names of his parents are not recorded, nor is that of the sister who taught him to read, but he was a precocious child who was already composing verses when a serious fall deprived him of his hearing and consequently of the ability to speak clearly. From 1818 to 1823 he attended the New York Deaf and Dumb Asylum, where he received a basic education and continued to write. One of his poems attracted the attention of the City Clerk, who eventually made him his assistant. Nack's first volume of poems, The Legend of the Rock (1827), caused a sensation. In 1838 he married Martha Simon; they appear (from census records) to have had at least six children. Later notable publications are Earl Rupert and Other Tales and Poems (1839), The Immortal, a Dramatic Romance (1850), Poems (1852), and The Romance of the Ring (1859). (DAB; Appleton; ancestry.com 10 May 2020)