Born in Boonville, New York, on July 15, 1903, Walter "Wat" Dumaux Edmonds was an American author noted for his historical novels and children's books. In 1919, Walter began a longtime association with Harvard University when he enrolled in Choate Rosemary Hall. Though he had originally intended to study chemical engineering, he became more interested in writing, and worked as managing editor of the Literary Magazine, going on to edit The Advocate. He received his A.B. in 1926.
He published his first novel, Rome Haul, a work about the Erie Canal, in 1929; he followed this with a play,The Farmer Takes a Wife, in 1934, and the popular novel, Drums Along the Mohawk, in 1936. Both of these were later adapted for the screen, and Drums Along the Mohawk remained on the bestseller list for two years, second only to Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Edmonds was eventually to publish thirty-four books, many intended for children, as well as several magazine stories. He won the Newbery Medal in 1942 for The Matchlock Gun and the National Book Award in 1976. He married Eleanor Stetson in 1930.
After Eleanor passed away in 1956, Walter remarried, to Katherine Howe Baker Carr; she died in 1989. Walter himself died in Concord, Massachusetts on January 24, 1998.
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