Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier

Born in Philadelphia on July 16, 1849, Thomas Allibone Janvier became a journalist, fiction writer, and historian whose work often blended lively narrative with careful interest in place and the past. He wrote for periodicals including Harper's and published books on New York history as well as fiction.

Janvier is especially associated with richly imagined writing about New York, including In Old New York and The Dutch Founding of New York. He also wrote about Mexico and travel, drawing on journeys he and his wife, writer and painter Catherine Ann Drinker Janvier, made in Mexico, France, and England.

He died on June 18, 1913. Today he is remembered as a versatile late-19th- and early-20th-century author whose work moved easily between short stories, historical writing, travel books, and imaginative adventure.