John T. (John Tyler) Wheelwright

Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1856, John T. Wheelwright studied at Harvard, earning his A.B. in 1876 and his law degree in 1878. He went on to practice law in Boston, but he also built a parallel life in letters and is remembered as one of the founders of the Harvard Lampoon, one of the best-known college humor magazines in the United States.

His writing moved easily between wit and storytelling. With Frederic Jesup Stimson, he wrote Rollo's Journey to Cambridge, a playful Harvard-themed work that first appeared in The Harvard Lampoon. He also wrote books for younger readers, including A Bad Penny, and took part in an unusual collaborative venture with Robert Grant, John Boyle O'Reilly, and Stimson on The King's Men: A Tale of To-morrow, an early speculative novel.

Later in life, Wheelwright also turned to historical and editorial work, including The Mayflower Pilgrims, a condensed presentation of William Bradford's account of Plymouth Colony. He died in Boston in 1925, leaving behind the varied record of a man who belonged to both the legal world and the literary one.