Prentice Mulford (April 5, 1834 – c. May 30, 1891) was an American literary

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

author. In addition, he was pivotal in the development of the thought within the New Thought movement. Many of the principles that would become standard in the movement, including the Law of Attraction, were clearly laid out in his ''Your Forces and How to Use Them'', released as a series of essays during 1886–1892.

Biography

Prentice Mulford was born in Sag Harbor, New York, in 1834, and in 1856 sailed to California where he would spend the next 16 years. During this time, Mulford spent several years in

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

towns, trying to find his fortune in

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

, or

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

. After leaving the mining life, Mulford ran for a position on the California State Assembly in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Although he was nominated, he ultimately lost the election. He returned to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and began writing for a weekly newspaper, '' The Golden Era''. Mulford spent five years as a writer and editor for various papers and was named by many San Franciscans a "Bohemian" because of his disregard for money. Mulford states in his autobiography, "poverty argued for us possession of more brains" (''Prentice Mulford's Story'' 130). He became known for his humorous style of writing and vivid descriptions of both mining life and life at sea. In 1872 Mulford returned to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, where he became known as a comic lecturer, a poet and essayist, and a columnist for ''The New York Daily Graphic'' from 1875 to 1881. Mulford was also instrumental in the founding, along with other notable writers, of the popular philosophy New Thought. Mulford's book ''Thoughts are Things'' served as a guide to this new belief system and is still popular today. His body was found lying in a boat in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, on May 30, 1891, where it had been drifting for several days. He was buried in his family's private vault in Sag Harbor, and later moved to Oakland Cemetery there.

Partial works

*''Thoughts are Things'' (1889) *''Your Forces and How to Use Them'' (In six volumes, published in 1888) *''The Swamp Angel'', 1888 *''The Gift of Understanding'' *''Gift of the Spirit'' (1904) 1st edition- with an introduction by Arthur Edward Waite *''Gift of Spirit'' (1917 2nd revised ed.) *''Thought Forces Essays Selected from the White Cross Library'' (1913) *''The God in You'', 1918 *''Prentice Mulford's Story: Life by Land and Sea'' (1889)

References

External links

* *
Library of Congress page on Mulford

Prentice Mulford’s work on the Law of Attraction

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070527055257/http://websyte.com/alan/ New Thought Movement homepage
1905 ''National Magazine'' article with photos
* 3 short radio episodes

from ''California Culinary Experiences'', 1869

an

from ''The Prentice Mulford Story, or Life by Land and Sea'', 1889. California Legacy Project. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulford, Prentice 1834 births 1891 deaths American humorists New Thought writers People from Sag Harbor, New York