Charles Battell Loomis(1861-1911)

Charles Battell Loomis was a humorist, author and lecturer remembered for his satirical take on life in America. He was the son of Charles Battell and Mary Worthington Loomis. Loomis was born in Brooklyn, NY, where his father worked as an insurance agent. As a young man Loomis dropped out of the Polytechnical Institute of Brooklyn (now known as Polytechnic University) to try his hand at business. After twelve years of living off a clerk's salary and now supporting a young wife, the former Mary Fullerton, also of Brooklyn, Loomis would find success submitting short stories to national publications of the day. A list of his more popular books and short stories would include "Just Rhymes" (1899), "The Four-Masted Catboat: and Other Truthful Tales" (1899), "Yankee Enchantments" (1900), "A Partnership in Magic" (1903), "At the Sign of the Cock and Hen" (1908) and "Bath in an English Tub" (1909). Charles Battell Loomis died in Hartford, Connecticut of stomach cancer on 23 September, 1911. He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. Both his sons went on to be writers. Charles Jr. wrote under the name Battell Loomis and his younger son, Alfred, became well known as an expert on boating. He wrote under the nom de plum "Spun Yarn" a monthly article in Yachting magazine titled "Under the Lee". His daughter Edith Worthington Loomis married G. Lamonte Hammann, son of the president and treasurer of the Progressive Manufacturing Company in Torrington, CT.