Meredith Nicholson (December 9, 1866 â December 21, 1947) was a best-selling author from Indiana, United States, a politician, and a diplomat.
Nicholson was born on December 9, 1866, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Edward Willis Nicholson and the former Emily Meredith. Largely self-taught, Nicholson began a newspaper career in 1884 at the Indianapolis Sentinel. He moved to the Indianapolis News the following year, where he remained until 1897.
He wrote Short Flights in 1891, and continued to publish extensively, both poetry and prose until 1928. During the first quarter of the 20th century, Nicholson, along with Booth Tarkington, George Ade, and James Whitcomb Riley helped to create a Golden Age of literature in Indiana. Three of his books from that era were national bestsellers: The House of a Thousand Candles (#4 in 1906), The Port of Missing Men (#3 in 1907), and A Hoosier Chronicle (#5 in 1912).
In 1928, Nicholson entered Democratic party politics, and served for two years as a city councillor in Indianapolis. He rose through the ranks of the Democratic party and was rewarded with appointments as envoy to Paraguay, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Nicholson was married first to Eugenie Clementine Kountze, daughter of Herman Kountze, and then to Dorothy Wolfe Lannon, whom he later divorced.
Nicholson died on December 21, 1947, in Indianapolis, aged 81, and is buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery.
1891: Short Flights, The Bowen-Merrill Co. <br>1900: The Hoosiers, The Macmillan Company <br>1903: The Main Chance, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1904: Zelda Dameron, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1905: The House of a Thousand Candles, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1906: Poems The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1907: The Port of Missing Men, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>......... Rosalind at Red Gate, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1908: The Little Brown Jug at Kildare, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1909: The Lords of High Decision, Doubleday, Page & Company <br>1910: The Siege of the Seven Suitors, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1911: Style and the Man, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1912: A Hoosier Chronicle, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>......... The Provincial American and Other Papers, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1913: Otherwise Phyllis, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1914: The Poet, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1916: The Proof of the Pudding, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1917: The Madness of May, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>......... A Reversible Santa Claus, Houghton Mifflin Company <br>1918: The Valley of Democracy, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1919: Lady Larkspur, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1920: Blacksheep! Blacksheep!, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1921: The Man in the Street, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1922: Best Laid Schemes, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>......... Broken Barriers, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1923: Honor Bright: A Comedy in Three Acts (with Kenyon Nicholson), Samuel French <br>......... The Hope of Happiness, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1925: And They Lived Happily Ever After!, Charles Scribner's Sons <br>1928: The Cavalier of Tennessee, The Bobbs-Merrill Company <br>1929 Old Familiar Faces, The Bobbs-Merrill Company