Edward Sims Van Zile
{{Infobox person
| name =Edward Sims Van Zile
| image =Edward Sims Van Zile (1863-1931) circa 1917.jpg
| caption =(c.1917)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1863|5|2}}
| birth_place =Troy, New York, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1931|5|29|1863|5|2}}
| death_place =Manhattan, New York City, US
| other_names = |
known_for =
| education = Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
| title = Doctor of Letters (honorary)
| occupation =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
}}
Edward Sims Van Zile (May 2, 1863 – May 29, 1931) was an American writer. He published fiction, non-fiction, biographies, a commentary on war, and a history of the early days of movies. In 1904, in an essay about him, Book News Biographies said "for the past ten years Mr. Van Zile has been known to the reading public through many short stories, novelettes and a few novels".
Life and career
Van Zile was born on May 2, 1863, in Troy, New York to Oscar Edward Van Zile and the former Sarah Melinda Perry. He was a descendant of Hollanders who came to America in the 17th century.{{cite web|title=Book News Biographies, Vol 22 (Philadelphia: John Wanamaker, 1904), p. 75|year = 1904|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FT49AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA75|access-date=6 October 2015}} He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1884. In 1904 the college gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. In addition to several books and articles, he wrote a libretto for a musical comedy.
In 1885 Van Zile began working for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World as the editor of a column called "Personal and Pertinent", which was one of the earliest daily columns concerned with the activities of the social elite of the New York City area.
On December 8, 1886, he married Mary Morgan Bulkeley. They had five children, four daughters, Mary "Molly" Van Zile (1887–1963), Sally Van Zile (1890–??),Harriet L. Van Zile (1892–??), Winifred Van Zile (1902–1902) and a son, Edward Bulkeley Van Zile (1888–1964).
Van Zile died on May 29, 1931, of a stroke at his home at 439 East 51st Street in Manhattan, New York City.{{cite news |title=Edward S. Van Zile, Author, Dead at 68. Fiction Writer and Journalist for 30 Years Succumbs to Stroke in Home Here |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D07E0D9153AEE3ABC4850DFB366838A629EDE |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 30, 1931 |access-date=15 May 2015 }} He was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.
Stories
- The last of the Van Slacks; a story of to-day (1889)
- A magnetic man and other stories (1890){{cite book|title=Kings In Adversity, 1897|year=1897|via=Internet Archive|url=https://archive.org/details/kingsinadversity00vanziala|quote=Edward S. Van Zile.|publisher=F. Tennyson Neely|access-date=6 October 2015}}
- Don Miguel, and other stories (1891)
- The Manhattaners; a story of the hour (1900)
- A duke and his double (1903)
- Defending the bank (1903)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikisource author}}
- {{Librivox author |id=14039}}
- {{Find a Grave|79288857}}
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US402700 Edward Sims Van Zile] patent for a device for recording baseball games (1889)
- {{LCAuth|no92019230|Edward S. Van Zile|16|}}
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Category:Writers from New York (state)
Category:Writers from Troy, New York
Category:Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni
Category:Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)