author
Samuel W. (Samuel Ward) Francis
1835–1886
A 19th-century New Yorker who moved easily between medicine, invention, and writing, he left behind an unusually wide-ranging body of work. He is especially remembered for curious scientific books, medical writing, and early patents that included a typewriter design and a utensil combining spoon, fork, and knife.
2 Audiobooks
A Christmas Story Man in His Element: or, A New Way to Keep House
by Samuel W. (Samuel Ward) Francis
Watson Refuted Being an Answer to the Apology for the Bible, in a Series of Letters to the Bishop Of Llandaff
by Samuel W. (Samuel Ward) Francis
About the author
Born in New York City in 1835, Samuel Ward Francis was an American physician, writer, and inventor. Reliable reference sources describe him as the son of physician John W. Francis, and note that his career stretched across medicine, publishing, and practical invention.
As an author, he wrote on a striking mix of subjects, including health, science, religion, and biography. Surviving records of his books show titles such as Water: its history, characteristics, hygienic and therapeutic uses, Curious facts concerning man and nature, and Biographical sketches of distinguished living New York physicians, which gives a sense of his broad, energetic interests.
Francis is also remembered for inventive work beyond his books. Historical sources connect him with an early "literary piano" typewriter, and he is often credited with a patent for a combined eating utensil that later became associated with the spork. He died in 1886, leaving the picture of a restless 19th-century mind who treated writing, medicine, and invention as parts of the same life.