author

William Fisher Markwick

1848–1911

Best known for co-writing early 20th-century educational books, this little-known author wrote about citizenship, character, and South America for young readers. His work has a practical, schoolroom feel, with a strong focus on moral education and civic responsibility.

1 Audiobook

The True Citizen: How to Become One

The True Citizen: How to Become One

by William Fisher Markwick, William Alexander Smith

About the author

William Fisher Markwick was an American author active around the turn of the 20th century. Library and public-domain records identify him as living from 1848 to 1911, and they preserve several works written for students and general readers.

He is best known as the co-author, with William Alexander Smith, of The True Citizen: How to Become One (1900), a school reader that presents citizenship as a matter of character as well as politics. The book was written for seventh- and eighth-grade pupils and stresses ethics, self-development, and public duty in a clear, instructive style.

Markwick also co-wrote The South American Republics (1901) with Smith, and he is credited with George Barker Stevens on The Life, Letters, and Journals of the Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker. Surviving records suggest he worked closely with educational and biographical subjects, but detailed personal information about his life appears to be scarce.