Edwin Evans Ewing (9 January 1824 – 20 August 1901) was a writer, poet, and newspaperman from

Cecil County Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He published a number of poems in local Cecil and Lancaster County newspapers in his youth, and also published two novels.

Early life

Ewing was the oldest of the seven children born to Patrick Ewing Jr. and Isabella Evans of Rowlandsville, Maryland. He spent his childhood living on his father's farm on

Octoraro Creek Octoraro Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, joining it above the Susquehanna's mouth at Chesapeake Bay. The Octoraro rises as an East and West Branch in Pennsylvania. The East Branch and Octoraro Creek form the southern half of th ...

, attending school in the winter and helping with the farm in the summer. Once he turned sixteen, he divided his time between farm work and writing poetry.

Career

His first published novel, "The Hag of the Wallowish," originally appeared as a serial in ''The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper'' beginning on October 10, 1849. Ewing based the characters in his novel off of his neighbors, and the "Wallowish" represented the Octoraro Creek. In 1868, the story was published by Irwin and

Erastus Beadle Erastus Flavel Beadle (September 9, 1821 – December 18, 1894) was an American printer and pioneer in publishing pulp fiction. Biography Erastus was born in Otsego County, New York, United States, in 1821, and had a brother, Irwin Pedro Be ...

under the title, "The Witch of the Wallowish." Ewing's second novel, called, "The Bee Hunter," was published in 1866. After a trip to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1856, Ewing wrote about his travel experiences in a series of letters published in the ''

Cecil Whig The ''Cecil Whig'' is a local newspaper that covers Cecil County, Maryland daily online and publishes two days a week. It has a circulation of approximately 9,000. The Cecil Whig is one of the country's oldest newspapers. It is the oldest newspap ...

'' of Elkton,

. He later purchased the ''Whig'' in 1861, which he edited for several years and then sold in 1876. Ewing and his family moved to

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, where he purchased the ''Kansas Farmer'' and the ''Juvenile Magazine'', and also established the ''Daily Capital.'' In 1882 he moved briefly to Macon County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and established the ''Blue Ridge Enterprise'', and then in 1885 finally returned to Maryland, where he purchased the ''Rising Sun Journal'', which still publishes today under the name ''The Midland Journal''.

Family

Edwin Ewing's great grandfather, Joshua Ewing, was the first representative of the Ewing family to settle in America, doing so in the late eighteenth century. His grandfather, Patrick Ewing, was a captain in the

Continental army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. Edwin had a brother, William Pinkney Ewing, who also wrote and contributed poetry. Ewing was married in 1863 to Clara Vaughan of

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She died that same year, on December 21, six days after giving birth to their daughter Clara. In 1865, Ewing got married a second time, this time to Emma McMurphy of Elkton, Maryland. Together they had three sons: Cecil, Evans, and Halus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewing, Edwin Evans 1824 births 1901 deaths