Biography

Samuel Merwin was born on 6 October, 1874, at Evanston, Illinois, the son of Orlando H. and Ella B. Merwin. Orlando Merwin served as postmaster of Evanston.

Merwin attended Northwestern University and between 1905 and 1911 worked as associate editor and eventually editor of Success Magazine. In 1907 the magazine sent him to China to investigate the opium trade. His first book, "The Short Line War", written in collaboration with fellow Evanstonian, Henry Kitchell Webster was published in 1899. Merwin and Webster later collaborated on two additional novels, "Calumet K" (1901) and "Comrade John" (1907).

Merwin went on to be a successful novelist, playwright and short story writer. Two of his more popular works were "Anthony the Absolute" (1914) and "Temperamental Henry: An Episodic History of the Early Life and the Young Loves of Henry Calverly 3rd" (1917).

In 1901 Merwin married Edna Earl Fleshiem. The couple had two sons, Samuel and Banister and one adopted son, John. Banister and John preceded their father in death.

Merwin was an early supporter of the women's rights movement. His aunt was women's suffragist leader, Frances E. Willard. Later in life he expressed the opinion that their emancipation only resulted in underdressed flappers oversupplied with money, automobiles, liquor and wildness.

Samuel Merwin died of a stroke while dining at the Player's Club in New York City on 17 October, 1936. He was survived by his wife and one son.
- IMDb mini biography by: John F. Barlow

Brother of writer Bannister Merwin.