Author: John S. Warner
Author: John S. Warner (1805–1883)
Biography: American author of dime novels. Albert Johannsen in The House of Beadle and Adams (1950) says this is not likely to be pseudonym and notes that Beadle described that author as "a sailor of experience." The U. S. censuses reveal only one likely candidate. John S. Warner was born around 1805 in Rensselaer County, New York, the son of William Warner. At a young age he moved to Henderson Harbor on the coast of Lake Erie and took to the water as a sailor eventually captaining a steamship on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. He retired in 1860 and operated a hotel in his hometown. It would be this period in the early 1860s when he wrote five nautical novels for Beadle. He married five times and had ten children. He died while visiting his son on 18 September 1883 in Michigan. Though there is no direct evidence of his authorship, many former ship captains did turn to fiction in their retirements.
Author Tags:
References: Jefferson County Journal (19 September 1883); Albert Johannsen in The House of Beadle and Adams (1950)
Fiction Titles:
- Isabel de Cordova: or, The Brethren of the Coast. A Tale of the Sea and Land. 1 vol. London: Beadle and Company, 1862.
- The Wreck of Albion: A Tale of the Sea. 1 vol. London: Beadle and Company, 1865.