author
Frederick W. (Frederick William) Thomas
1806–1866
An American writer of poems, novels, and songs, he moved through many kinds of work and many parts of the country, bringing a lively, wide-ranging view of 19th-century life to his writing. He is especially remembered for The Emigrant and for his friendship and correspondence with Edgar Allan Poe.
1 Audiobook
The Emigrant or Reflections While Descending the Ohio
by Frederick W. (Frederick William) Thomas
About the author
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1806, Frederick William Thomas became an American journalist, author, poet, and songwriter whose career took him from law into literature, teaching, and public service. His life was unusually varied, and that restless energy shows up in the range of his work.
He published poems, novels, and songs, with notable titles including The Emigrant, Clinton Bradshaw, East and West, Howard Pinckney, and The Beechen Tree, and Other Poems. He also wrote for periodicals and was known in the literary world of his day through his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe.
Thomas spent time in places including Maryland, the Midwest, Kentucky, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. He died in Washington on August 27, 1866. For listeners today, his work offers a window into the ambitions, movement, and literary culture of early 19th-century America.