Owen Wister

Owen Whister (July 14, 1860 - July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian who was considered the "father" of Western fiction. He is best remembered for writing Virginia and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Owen Whister was born July 14, 1860 in Germantown, an area in northwestern Philadelphia, PA. His father, Owen Jones Whister, was a wealthy physician who grew up in Gramblethorpe in Germantown. He was a distant relative of Sally Wister. His mother, Sarah Butler Whister, was the daughter of British actress Fanny Kemble and Pierce Mies Butler. Wister briefly attended schools in Switzerland and the UK, and then attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Theater and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha) group. chapter). Wister was also a member of the Porcellian Club, thanks to which he became friends with the future 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt. As a senior Wister, he wrote Successful Pudding at the time, the most successful Dido and Aeneas show, whose proceeds helped build their theater. Wister graduated from Harvard in 1882. At first he aspired to a musical career and studied for two years at the Paris Conservatory. After that, he worked for a time in a bank in New York before studying law; he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1888. After that, he worked for a Philadelphia company, but was never interested in this career. However, he was interested in politics and was a staunch supporter of US President Theodore Roosevelt. In the 1930s, Wister opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal.