Author: Snelling, William Joseph
Biography:
SNELLING, William Joseph (1804-48: ANBO)
The son of Elizabeth (Bell) and Josiah Snelling, he was born and raised in Boston. His father was an active soldier who fought in the Indian wars and rose to the rank of Colonel. His mother died in 1810 but William Joseph stayed on in Boston with relatives to complete his schooling, after which he enrolled at West Point. He left in 1820, however, to travel westward. He wintered among the Dakota before reaching Fort St. Anthony MN, where his father was in command and responsible for completing the construction of the fort--eventually renamed Fort Snelling. For five years he lived as an explorer and fur trader, sometimes called on to mediate disputes among the tribes. He married a Swiss woman, Dionice Fournier, in 1826 but she died in 1827. His father died in Boston in 1828. Returning to the city, Snelling moved energetically into a new career as a journalist and writer. He contributed to various newspapers and magazines and served occasionally as editor; for the last few years of his life, he was the editor of the Boston Herald. He wrote books of travels; many short stories ("tales") that drew on his experience of life among the Plains tribes; and campaigning journalism against gambling and slavery. After spending four months in prison on a charge of drunkenness, he published The Rat Trap (1837) to advocate prison reform. His second wife was Adelaide Mary Leverette, whom he married in Boston in 1830 but who died in 1837. In 1838 he married Lucy Jordan, with whom he had three children. He died at the family home in Chelsea MA of "apoplexy" and is buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston. (ANBO 1 Oct. 2020; findmypast.com 1 Oct. 2020; findagrave.com 1 Oct. 2020; Appleton) HJ
Other Names:
- W. J. S.
- William J. Snelling