Thornton W. Burgess

Thornton Waldo Burgess, an American author, naturalist, and conservationist, is best known for his children's stories that feature animals and their natural habitats. Burgess was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 1874, to Caroline F. Haywood and Thornton W. Burgess Sr., who was a direct descendant of one of the first Sandwich settlers in 1637. However, Burgess was brought up by his mother as his father died the same year he was born. Growing up in humble circumstances, Burgess worked numerous jobs as a young boy to help support himself and his mother. These jobs included tending cows, picking trailing arbutus or berries, shipping water lilies from local ponds, selling candy, and trapping muskrats. One of his employers, William C. Chipman, lived on Discovery Hill Road, which would later become the setting for many of Burgess' stories.\n \n Burgess' love for nature and its living creatures inspired him to write about them for over 50 years. He wrote more than 170 books and thousands of short-stories during his lifetime. His most popular work is the Old Mother West Wind series, which was first published in 1910. Burgess' writing career began when he took a job as an editorial assistant at the Phelps Publishing Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. He wrote his first stories under the pen name W.B. Thornton. In 1905, Burgess married Nina Osborne, but she died a year later, leaving him to raise their son alone. Burgess remarried in 1911 to Fannie, who had two children from a previous marriage. The couple later bought a home in Hampden, Massachusetts, in 1925, which became Burgess' permanent residence in 1957. Burgess frequently returned to Sandwich, which he always claimed as his birthplace and spiritual home. He published his last book, "Now I Remember, Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist," in 1960, depicting memories of his early life in Sandwich, as well as his career highlights. Burgess died on June 5, 1965, at the age of 91 in Hampden, Massachusetts.