John Herbert Quick (October 23, 1861 – May 10, 1925) was an American writer and politician.

Biography

Born October 23, 1861, near Steamboat Rock,

Grundy County, Iowa Grundy County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. At the 2020 census, the population was 12,329. The county seat is Grundy Center. The county is named for Felix Grundy, former U.S. Attorney General. Grundy County is included in the ...

, to Martin and Margaret Coleman Quick, he was afflicted with

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

as a child. He married Ella Corey in 1890. When he was eight, Quick's family moved to Grundy Center, where he lived until 1880. Around that time he became a teacher, an occupation he followed until he became the mayor of Sioux City in 1898. In 1908 he was the associate editor of Robert LaFollette's '' Weekly Magazine'', in Madison, Wisconsin. From 1909 to 1916 he was the editor of the magazine '' Farm and Fireside'', published in Springfield, Ohio. Quick established a law firm in Sioux City, where he practiced for 19 years. He also became a businessman and later served as the 27th Mayor of Sioux City, Iowa from 1898 to 1900. An historical marker, Herbert Quick Ravine, can be found in Sioux City. The plaque reads "Named in Memory of Herbert Quick. Statesman, Writer, Mayor of Sioux City. He Knew and Loved the Prairie's of Iowa, 1861-1925." His best known works are the Midland Trilogy of ''Vandemark's Folly'' (1922), ''The Hawkeye'' (1923), and ''The Invisible Woman'' (1924). The fictional stories describe the life of an Iowa pioneer. An early environmentalist, his best known non-fiction work was ''On Board the Good Ship Earth'' (1913). He also wrote an autobiography, ''One Man's Life'' (1925). Quick's 1906 comic novel, ''Double Trouble, or, Every Hero His Own Villain'' was the basis for a 1915 silent film produced by D.W. Griffith, directed by

Christy Cabanne William Christy Cabanne (April 16, 1888 – October 15, 1950) was an American film director, screenwriter, and silent film actor. Biography Born in 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri, Cabanne (pronounced CAB-a-nay) was educated at the Culver Military ...

, and starring

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...

in one of his earliest film roles. Quick died on May 10, 1925, in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

Legacy

The John Herbert Quick House near Berkeley Springs,

Morgan County, West Virginia Morgan County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,063. Its county seat is Berkeley Springs. The county was formed in 1820 from parts of Hampshire and Berkeley Counties and name ...

, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984. The Herbert Quick Schoolhouse, a historical, one-room schoolhouse, is in Grundy Center, Iowa.

References

External links

* * * * 1861 births 1925 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American memoirists Novelists from Iowa People from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-novelist-1860s-stub