Wilbur Gleason Zeigler

Wilbur Gleason Zeigler was an American lawyer and writer from Ohio who became known for mixing storytelling with big literary ideas. Reliable sources found here agree that he was associated with Fremont, Ohio, and that he practiced law as well as writing books.

He is best remembered for It Was Marlowe (1895), a novel whose preface and notes are often credited with launching the Marlovian theory—the claim that Christopher Marlowe, rather than William Shakespeare, wrote the Shakespeare plays. That link between fiction, literary speculation, and authorship controversy is the main reason Zeigler is still mentioned today.

Zeigler also wrote The Heart of the Alleghanies; or, Western North Carolina, showing an interest in regional subjects beyond the Shakespeare question. The sources available in this search were not consistent about his death year, so it is better to be cautious on that point than to state it as certain.