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John Fleming Wilson, (February 22, 1877 – March 5, 1922), was an American author, newspaperman, and prolific writer of short stories and adventure novels, best known for his travel books about sea life. Many of his books and short stories were made into films during the 1910s through the 1930s.

John Fleming Wilson
John Fleming Wilson (1877–1922)
Born	(1877-02-22)February 22, 1877 Erie, Pennsylvania, US
Died	March 5, 1922(1922-03-05) (aged 45) Venice, California, US
Nationality	American
Known for	Writing of sea tales
Notable work	The Man Who Came Back
Spouse	Elena Burt

Early life

Wilson was born on February 22, 1877, in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Presbyterian minister Dr Joseph Rogers Wilson (1847-1929), and Viola Earl Eaton (1845-1933). His father worked with Dr. Samuel Johnson who founded the Portland Academy. He received his education at Parsons College in Iowa, and at Princeton University in 1900.[1][2] He studied classical and modern literature, particularly subjects that related to oceans, bays, rivers, and ports. He spent much of his boyhood at sea.[3] He married Elena Burt in July 1906, in Newport, Oregon. He was later divorced and had no children.[1][2]

He was a deep-sea sailor, a ship's officer in the merchant marine, wireless operator, and lived for a time in Japan. His study of nautical books and the trips out to sea gave him the opportunity to write sea stories.[4][5]

Career

Wilson was a school teacher from 1900 to 1902. He then worked with a newspaper company from 1902 to 1905. He was the author of several books and contributed to short stories for both American and European magazines.[1]

Newspapers

In 1905, Wilson lived in Honolulu, Hawaii on the writing staff of the The Honolulu Advertiser. A number of his stories were published in the The Advertiser, in 1907 and 1908. In 1906, he was editor of the San Francisco The Argonaut.[4][1]

In 1907, he founded the Newport Signal, of Newport, Oregon.[6] He was also associated with The Oregonian and The Pacific Monthly.

In 1907, Wilson corresponded by letters to author and editor Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), when Stoddard was living in Monterey, California.[7]

Carmel

In the early 1910s, Wilson lived in Carmel Point, Monterey County, California near Carmel-by-the-Sea. He built a little cottage at 14th Avenue and San Antonio Street as a writer's studio. In 1912, he sold the studio to realtor Philip Wilson Sr. (1862-1944) who also owned the Philip Wilson Building downtown.[8][9]

World War I

Wilson served overseas in France with the 7th infantry battalion of the Canadian Army during World War I from 1917-1919. He was gassed by German shells. After the war he returned as a patient in a government hospital at Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino. He then went to Martin's Sanitarium in Venice, California.[1]

Death

Wilson died, from burns caused by a gas heater, on March 5, 1922, at his home in Venice, at the age of 55.[1] His remains were brought to Hemet, California and funeral services were head at the San Jacinto Valley Cemetery in San Jacinto, California.[4][10]

Legacy

Writer Herbert Heron wrote about Wilson in the Carmel Pine Cone in 1966. He said

His stories of the sea are among the best in the language. He was especially familiar with the Oregon Coast and the treacherous Columbia River mouth. He knew ships of very kind, from tugboats to ocean liners, and he served as an officer on many of them.[3]

Raymond Blathway wrote of him and said:

As a literature he was perhaps the best equipped man I have ever known. But as a technical writer of one of the most complicated professions in the world he holds pre-emience over every other writer in that particular branch of literature. Neither Richard Henry Dana, Herman Melville, William Clark Russell, Conrad, nor Kipling can surpass him in his unrivalled knowledge of the sea and all that pertains to it.[3]

Filmography

• The Making of a Man (1906 short story The Outing Magazine); silent drama film in 1911 Biograph Company[11][12]
• The Man Who Came Back (1912 novel); silent film in 1924[13][14][15]
• The Master Key (short story); film serial in 1914 directed by Robert Z. Leonard.[16]
• Learning to Be a Father (short story) 1915[17]
• Their Golden Wedding (short story) 1915[18]
• A Soul at Stake (short story), written by Wilson and scenarioized by Calder Johnstone; silent short Oriental drama in 1916.[19]
• Never Too Old to Woo (short story) 1917; silent film.[20]
• The Uncharted Seas (Sep 1920 short story-Munsey's Magazine); silent romance drama film 1921[21][22]
• The Bonded Woman (short story) 1922; silent drama film; from Wilson's book The Saving of John Somers[23]
• The Man Who Married His Own Wife (Apr 1922 short story - Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan); drama film in May 1, 1922; directed by Stuart Paton and written by George Hively[24][25][26]
• Road of Hell (1931 film) and the Spanish-language ‘’Camino del infierno’’ (novel) 1931[27][28]
• The Man Who Came Back (1912 novel); film in 1931[29][30]

Publications

List of works from Wilson include the following:

See also

• Timeline of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

References

External links

• Fred Lockley Papers and Addenda: Finding Aid
• Charles Warren Stoddard Collection: Finding Aid
• John Fleming Wilson Other Works
• John Fleming Wilson Filmography

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