author
Robin Ranger
1827–1900
Best known as the pen name behind lively 19th-century books for young readers, this American Methodist clergyman also wrote practical and widely read religious reference works. His career blended storytelling, teaching, and church publishing in a way that made him a familiar voice to families of his era.
1 Audiobook
Up in the garret
by Robin Ranger
About the author
Born in New York City in 1827, James Midwinter Freeman was an American clergyman and writer who studied at Wesleyan University and Mount Union College in Ohio. He entered the Methodist ministry and later worked in church publishing, becoming an assistant editor for Sunday-school and tract publications of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Under the pseudonym Robin Ranger, he wrote books for children, especially stories aimed at boys. He also published nonfiction works including Use of Illustration in Sunday School Teaching, Handbook of Bible Manners and Customs, and A Story History of the English Bible, showing the range of his interests as both a teacher and an author.
Freeman died in 1900. Today, the name Robin Ranger is remembered as the playful side of a writer whose work moved between moral instruction, popular religious reference, and children’s storytelling.