author
1825–1897
Best known today for writing about the Great Chicago Fire, this 19th-century author also spent much of his career in the insurance world, where journalism and practical law shaped his work. His books mix firsthand-era detail with a clear, useful style that still feels direct.
Charles Cole Hine was an American writer and insurance publisher whose career bridged trade journalism, legal reference writing, and historical narrative. Sources on his publishing work identify him as the owner and editor of an insurance publishing house in New York City, which produced policy forms, insurance manuals, and the long-running Insurance Monitor.
He appears to have moved his family to the New York area in 1868, when he became owner and editor of the Insurance Monitor. His son, Charles Gilbert Hine, later succeeded him in the business after Hine's death in 1897, suggesting that the publishing house remained a family enterprise.
As an author, Hine wrote practical works on insurance law and forms, but he is especially memorable to general readers for Great Chicago Fire, his account of the 1871 disaster and its aftermath, including the insurance losses and relief efforts. That mix of professional expertise and interest in major public events gives his writing a distinctive voice: informed, orderly, and closely tied to the concerns of his time.