author

James Frederic Thorne

b. 1871

Best remembered for turning Alaska Native stories into a book for early 20th-century readers, this little-known writer also had a practical side as an engineer and publisher. His work ranges from folklore and fiction to straightforward agricultural guides, which makes him an unexpectedly varied figure.

1 Audiobook

In the Time That Was

In the Time That Was

by James Frederic Thorne

About the author

James Frederic Thorne was an American engineer, publisher, and author born in 1871. Surviving reference pages describe him as active into the 1920s, though I could not confirm a precise death year from the sources I found.

His known books show an unusually wide range. On Wikisource, he is credited with In the Time That Was (1909), Markets for Potatoes (1915), The Culture and Manufacture of Flax for Fibre and Seed (1916), Chinese Eggs (1916), and The Man Who Was Seven (1920). That mix suggests a writer who moved easily between storytelling and practical, trade-minded subjects.

He is most likely to interest modern listeners through In the Time That Was, a collection presented as Chilkat legends told to him in Alaska and rendered into English for publication. Project Gutenberg lists that title among his works, and the text presents it as a retelling shaped from stories he heard and carried into print.