Washington Irving
American
| Notable Position | Organization | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analectic Magazine | 1813 | 1814 |
| Notable Position | Organization | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analectic Magazine | 1813 | 1814 |
| Y/M/D | Description | Association | Composition | Place | Locale | Food | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y/M/D | Description | Association | Composition | Place | Locale | Food | Event |
| 1783/04/03 | Named after American Revolutionary War hero, George Washington, Washington Irving is born in New York City. | Born | |||||
| 1798/00/00 | At the age of 15, Washington Irving first sees the Van Tassel cottage on the Hudson River, a few miles below Tarrytown. The dutch cottage is a simple, old stone house with a central chimney, much like the common colonial saltbox. | Visitor | Sunnyside | Greenburgh, NY | |||
| 1807/00/00 | Washington Irving is the first to use Gotham (from the Anglo-Saxon Goat's Town) as another name for New York City in satirical articles he writes for the magazine he co-founded 'Salmagundi'. | Author | |||||
| 1819/06/23 | "Rip Van Winkle" is published. | Author | Rip Van Winkle | ||||
| 1819/06/23 | The first installment of "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent" by Washington Irving is published simultaneously in Baltimore, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. | Author | The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (Story Collection) | ||||
| 1820/00/00 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - published | Author | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (short story) | ||||
| 1820/00/00 | "The Christmas Dinner" by Washington Irving is published. | Author | The Christmas Dinner (sketch) | ||||
| 1820/00/00 | "The Spectre Bridegroom" by Washington Irving is published in 'The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent', 1819-1820, 1848. | Author | The Spectre Bridegroom (short story) | ||||
| 1820/07/00 | Westminster Abbey - published | Author | Westminster Abbey (literary sketch) | ||||
| 1824/00/00 | "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving is published. | Author | The Devil and Tom Walker (Short Story) | ||||
| 1824/00/00 | "The Adventure of the German Student" by Washington Irving is collected in 'Tales of a Traveller'. | Author | The Adventure of the German Student (Short Story) | ||||
| 1824/00/00 | "Tales of a Traveller" by Washington Irving is published in Philedelphia by H C Carey and I Lea of Chesnut Street. | Author | Tales of a Traveller (short story collection) | ||||
| 1828/00/00 | Washington Irving visits the Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. | Visitor | Tales of the Alhambra (collection) | Alhambra Palace | Granada, ES-AN | ||
| 1832/00/00 | Washington Irving crosses the Arkansas River near what will later be known as "McBirney Springs". | Adventurer | James H McBirney House | Tulsa, OK | |||
| 1832/10/25 | Washington Irving takes part in the attempted Ringing of the Wild Horse. He writes of the adventure in "A Tour of the Prairie". | Adventurer | Ringing the Wild Horse Site | Jones | |||
| 1835/00/00 | Washington Irving hires his nephew, Pierre Munro Irving, to spend two years researching his book on John Astor's Pacific Fur Company and their adventure in the Pacific Northwest, 1834-1836. | Author | |||||
| 1835/00/00 | Washington Irving's "A Tour on the Prairies" is published. | Author | Ringing the Wild Horse Site | Jones | |||
| 1835/06/07 | Irving purchases, Wolfert's Roost, a 17th century Dutch house on the Hudson River for $1,800. | Home | Sunnyside | Greenburgh, NY | |||
| 1836/00/00 | In the Fall, "Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains" by Washington Irving is published in two volumes through Carey, Lea and Blanchard in Philadelphia. | Author | Astoria (book) | ||||
| 1836/08/00 | In the late summer, Irving completes "Astoria" in two months. Resources for the book include the work of Thomas L McKenney, explorer Steven Long, traders Ross Cox and Gabriel Franchere, and the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. | Author | |||||
| 1837/00/00 | "Astoria" is an immediate bestseller. More than twenty-five editions will be produced before Irving's death in 1859, including translations into French, Dutch and German. | Author | |||||
| 1838/00/00 | Bolton Priory is built as a home for the Reverend Robert Bolton. | Architect | Bolton Priory | Pelham, NY | |||
| 1838/00/00 | Mary Rogers, the teenage daughter of a widowed boarding-house keeper, clerks at John Anderson's Tobacco Emporium frequented by NP Willis, J Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe and by reporters and editors of NYC's newspapers. | Tobacco Customer | Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers | ||||
| 1840/00/00 | James G King has a semicircular wall built around the Hamilton monument to protect his guest, author Washington Irving, from falling off the promontory where he likes to nap. | Visitor | Highwood Estate, Weehawken | Weehawken | |||
| 1848/00/00 | Irving joins Christ Episcopal Church, serving as a vestryman until his death in 1859. Irving also contributes the ivy, which grows on the church facade, from cuttings he took at Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter Scott in Scotland. | Faith | Christ Episcopal Church | Greenburgh, NY | |||
| 1848/00/00 | Captain Jacob Storm and Washington Irving originate the idea for a new cemetery for the villages of Tarrytown and North Tarrytown. Captain Jacob Storm buys the land for the Tarrytown Cemetery in 1948. | Developer | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery | Mount Pleasant, NY | |||
| 1848/04/01 | Washington Irving serves as an honorary pallbearer at John Jacob Astor's funeral. | Mourner | St Thomas Church and Parish House | New York City | John Jacob Astor's Funeral | ||
| 1854/01/09 | Astor Library opens, with help from book collector and librarian Joseph Green Cogswell and $400,000 from John Jacob Astor, designed by architect, Alexander Saeltzer. | Trustee | New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater | New York City | |||
| 1859/11/28 | Washington Irving dies of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside. | Died | Sunnyside | Greenburgh, NY | |||
| 1859/12/01 | Thousands attend the funeral for Washington Irving at Christ Episcopal Church in Tarrytown, New York. | In Memoriam | Christ Episcopal Church | Greenburgh, NY | |||
| 1859/12/01 | Washington Irving is buried under a simple headstone at Sleepy Hollow cemetery. | In Memoriam | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery | Mount Pleasant, NY |
History
Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783, the eleventh and last child of William and Sarah Irving, a Scottish-English mercantile family in New York. As a youth, Irving led a sheltered life, but still managed to pursue his interests in theater, art, music, travel, and social occasions. Following a trip to Europe between 1804 and 1806, Irving returned to New York, studied for and was admitted to the bar, and began to write humorous short pieces. His first extended project, A History of New York, written under the pseudonym of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was published in 1809. It was an elaborate and intricate satire of old Dutch families of New Netherlands which required much of his time to complete. In this same year, Matilda Hoffman, a young lady whom Irving was deeply attached to, died suddenly. Irving was strongly affected by this and remained a bachelor for life.
In 1815, Irving and his brother Peter sailed for London to attend to the family business which was in great disorder. By 1818, the firm was bankrupt and Irving determined to become a fulltime author. The products of the decision were soon forthcoming and they included: The Sketch Book, 1819-1820; Bracebridge Hall, 1822-1825; The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, published in three volumes in 1828 after his stay as an attache at the United States Legation in Madrid; and A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada in 1829 until 1832 he acted as Secretary of the United States Legation in London. In this period he produced two other works including the Alhambra, or the "Spanish Sketch Book," in 1832. During this time, Irving traveled throughout Europe, where he was well-accepted in social and literary circles. With the exception of "Rip Van Winkle," and the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," in the Sketch Book, his works were concerned with the nostalgia and history of the Old World. Although romantic and sentimental, his books gained critical and financial success, and earned him praise from such authors as Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell and Thomas Moore, and advice from Sir Walter Scott.
In 1832, Irving returned to America after an absence of 17 years, to be greeted by widespread acclaim and appreciation for introducing American literature to the European mainstream. Irving embarked on a trip through the Midwest and then returned to New York. In 1835 he purchased the Van Tassel cottage at Tarrytown and devoted his time toward the reconstruction of that house in his own personal style. In these years following, Irving's writings became less inspired and tended more towards editing older writings and republishing collected works. Once his house was completed, he invited the motherless family of his brother Ebenezer to live with him at Sunnyside and his little "snuggery" was frequently so crowded that he was forced to sleep in his study.
In 1842, Irving was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain by President Tyler. Irving had previously been offered the candidacy for the Ma^or of New York City and the Secretaryship of the Navy in Van Buren's cabinet, but Irving chose to avoid these more political posts. Irving returned from Spain in 1846 to Sunnyside, where he began to work on his monumental biography, Life of George Washington. In 1849, he published Oliver Goldsmith; A Biography, and followed this with two volume Mahomet and His Successors. The fifth and final volume of Washington's biography had just been published when Irving died quietly at Sunnyside on November 28, 1859. His funeral, which was attended by thousands, was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Tarrytown, and he was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, also in Tarrytown. - NRHP
39 Creative Works by Washington Irving »
| Title | Type | Association | Y/M/D | Moniker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Type | Association | Y/M/D | Moniker |
| Philip of Pokanoket (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1814/00/00 | |
| Traits of Indian Character (essay) | Author | Essay | 1814/00/00 | |
| Rip Van Winkle | Author | Short Story | 1819/06/23 |
|
| The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (Story Collection) | Author | Short Story Collection | 1819/06/23 | |
| The Wife (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Christmas (essay) | Author | Essay | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Broken Heart (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Spectre Bridegroom (short story) | Author | Short Story | 1820/00/00 |
|
| The Angler (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| John Bull (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Christmas Day (essay) | Author | Essay | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Country Church (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Roscoe (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| A Sunday in London (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (short story) | Author | Short Story | 1820/00/00 |
|
| The Stage-Coach (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Art of Book Making (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Christmas Eve (Irving essay) | Author | Essay | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Inn Kitchen (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Rural Funerals (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| A Royal Poet (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Voyage (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Author's Account of Himself (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Little Britain (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Mutability of Literature (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Rural Life in England (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Christmas Dinner (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Widow and her Son (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Boar's Head Tavern (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| London Antiques (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| The Pride of the Village (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Statford-on-Avon (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| English Writers on America (sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/00/00 | |
| Westminster Abbey (literary sketch) | Author | Written sketch | 1820/07/00 | |
| The Adventure of the German Student (Short Story) | Author | Short Story | 1824/00/00 |
|
| Tales of a Traveller (short story collection) | Author | Short Story Collection | 1824/00/00 | |
| The Devil and Tom Walker (Short Story) | Author | Short Story | 1824/00/00 |
|
| Tales of the Alhambra (collection) | Author | Collection of Essays | 1832/05/00 |
|
| Astoria (book) | Author | 1836/00/00 |
|
Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783, the eleventh and last child of William and Sarah Irving, a Scottish-English mercantile family in New York. As a youth, Irving led a sheltered life, but still managed to pursue his interests in theater, art, music, travel, and social occasions. Following a trip to Europe between 1804 and 1806, Irving returned to New York, studied for and was admitted to the bar, and began to write humorous short pieces. His first extended project, A History of New York, written under the pseudonym of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was published in 1809. It was an elaborate and intricate satire of old Dutch families of New Netherlands which required much of his time to complete. In this same year, Matilda Hoffman, a young lady whom Irving was deeply attached to, died suddenly. Irving was strongly affected by this and remained a bachelor for life.
In 1815, Irving and his brother Peter sailed for London to attend to the family business which was in great disorder. By 1818, the firm was bankrupt and Irving determined to become a fulltime author. The products of the decision were soon forthcoming and they included: The Sketch Book, 1819-1820; Bracebridge Hall, 1822-1825; The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, published in three volumes in 1828 after his stay as an attache at the United States Legation in Madrid; and A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada in 1829 until 1832 he acted as Secretary of the United States Legation in London. In this period he produced two other works including the Alhambra, or the "Spanish Sketch Book," in 1832. During this time, Irving traveled throughout Europe, where he was well-accepted in social and literary circles. With the exception of "Rip Van Winkle," and the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," in the Sketch Book, his works were concerned with the nostalgia and history of the Old World. Although romantic and sentimental, his books gained critical and financial success, and earned him praise from such authors as Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell and Thomas Moore, and advice from Sir Walter Scott.
In 1832, Irving returned to America after an absence of 17 years, to be greeted by widespread acclaim and appreciation for introducing American literature to the European mainstream. Irving embarked on a trip through the Midwest and then returned to New York. In 1835 he purchased the Van Tassel cottage at Tarrytown and devoted his time toward the reconstruction of that house in his own personal style. In these years following, Irving's writings became less inspired and tended more towards editing older writings and republishing collected works. Once his house was completed, he invited the motherless family of his brother Ebenezer to live with him at Sunnyside and his little "snuggery" was frequently so crowded that he was forced to sleep in his study.
In 1842, Irving was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain by President Tyler. Irving had previously been offered the candidacy for the Ma^or of New York City and the Secretaryship of the Navy in Van Buren's cabinet, but Irving chose to avoid these more political posts. Irving returned from Spain in 1846 to Sunnyside, where he began to work on his monumental biography, Life of George Washington. In 1849, he published Oliver Goldsmith; A Biography, and followed this with two volume Mahomet and His Successors. The fifth and final volume of Washington's biography had just been published when Irving died quietly at Sunnyside on November 28, 1859. His funeral, which was attended by thousands, was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Tarrytown, and he was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, also in Tarrytown. - NRHP
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