author

George Franklin Babbitt

1848–1926

A Harvard-educated journalist and public servant from Massachusetts, he is best remembered for writing a tribute to aviator Norman Prince, one of the early American volunteers in World War I.

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About the author

Born in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1848, he studied at Harvard and went on to work as a reporter and editor for the Boston Post. Sources available online also describe him as serving as a private secretary to Mayor Prince, later becoming the paper's Washington correspondent.

Beyond journalism, he was involved in public service in Boston, including work connected with the city's Board of Health. His surviving bibliography appears to be small, and he is chiefly associated today with Norman Prince: A Volunteer Who Died for the Cause He Loved, a memorial work that helped preserve the story of the American-born French war pilot.

Because reliable biographical material on him is limited and scattered, many personal details are not easy to confirm. Still, the record that does survive suggests a writer closely tied to Boston civic life, journalism, and the public memory of wartime service.