Edward Waldo Emerson (1844 - 1930)

Born 10 Jul 1844 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Died 27 Jan 1930 at age 85 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Edward Waldo Emerson (1844 – 1930) was an an American physician, writer and lecturer. Born in Concord Massachusetts, he was the youngest child of poet/philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and his second wife, Lydia Jackson.

Education

Edward attended Frank Sanborn’s progressive, coeducational Concord private school. He then attended Harvard after being rejected for service in the Civil War for health reasons, and graduated in 1866. He enrolled in Harvard Medical School in 1868, and spent a year abroad, in London and Berlin. Ill health plagued him throughout his early life, and he often had to leave school to convalesce at home. He eventually graduated with his MD in 1874.

Occupation

After graduation, Edward joined Dr Josiah Bartlett's medical practice in Concord, first as his assistant and eventually taking over the practice. As a country doctor, Edward served Concord, and the outlying towns of Acton, Bedford and Lincoln - venturing out to visit his patients by horse and buggy, and in winter, by horse-drawn sleigh.

He did not pursue a lengthy career in medicine however, retiring in 1882, after the death of his father. His inheritance permitted him to follow his passions of writing and painting. He became an instructor in art anatomy at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts where he worked for 20 years (1886–1906). He edited many collections of his father's writings, was a renowned lecturer and wrote many essays and several books.

His works

Emerson in Concord (1888)

The Life of E. R. Hoar, with Moorfield Storey (1911)

Henry Thoreau as Remembered by a Young Friend (1917)

Early years of the Saturday Club, 1855–1870. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918.

Later years of the Saturday Club, 1870–1920. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927.

As editor:

Correspondence of John Sterling and Ralph Waldo Emerson (1897)

Centenary Edition of Ralph Waldo Emerson, annotated (1903)

Life and Letters of General Charles Russell Lowell (1907)

Emerson's Journals, with Waldo Emerson Forbes (1909)

Family

In 1874, Edward married Concord girl Annie Shepard Keyes, daughter of John Shepard and Martha (Prescott) Keyes. Their first three children all died very young, three of the later children lived to marry, but only one, the youngest - Raymond, outlived his father.

Tribute

"His whole life was characterized by great gentleness, consideration and generosity, combined with an absolutely unflinching devotion to duty and a courage that had never given way. His innate refinement and his enthusiasm for what was beautiful in literature and art, both romantic and classic, were conspicuous." ^[1]

Sources

• Concord Free Public Library
• Wikipedia article
• Forbes, Edward W. "Edward Waldo Emerson (1844-1930)". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 70, No. 10 (Mar., 1936), pp. 531-535

Archival material

See the list of Edward Waldo Emerson's archived material at the Concord Free Public Library

References

1. ↑ Forbes, p 535