Introduction

Biography

William was the hus­band of Maude Bar­den.

He gra­du­at­ed from Dart­mouth Col­lege in 1888 (Phi Be­ta Kap­pa), and be­came a prin­ci­pal in Am­herst, New Hamp­shire, the next year.

He en­tered Un­ion Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry, New York Ci­ty, in 1889, gra­du­at­ing in 1892. He received an AM in 1890 and PhD in 1892 from the Uni­ver­si­ty of New York, and was act­ing pas­tor at the Rock­a­way Church in Brook­lyn while en­rolled in 1890.

He served as pas­tor at Ri­ver­side Church in East Pro­vi­dence, Rhode Is­land (1892); Ri­ve­rside Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, Ri­ver­side, Rhode Is­land (1893–94); Ta­ber­na­cle Church, Yar­mouth, No­va Sco­tia (1894–96); War­ren, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1896–1908); Win­throp Church, Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1905–06); and Wood­ward Ave­nue, De­troit, Mi­chi­gan (to 1913).

In 1913, he be­came pre­si­dent of the Am­er­ican In­sti­tute of Child Life in Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, re­sign­ing in 1914 to pur­sue writ­ing.

He set­tled in Swarth­more, Penn­syl­van­ia, and lived there the rest of his life.

For a time he head­ed the Wool­man House, a school of so­cial and re­li­gious edu­ca­tion un­der the Quak­er man­age­ment of Swarth­more. In 1895, he re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Laws de­gree from Ha­no­ver Col­lege, Han­ov­er, In­di­ana.

He found­ed the Knights of King Ar­thur in 1893, which at­tract­ed thou­sands of young boys. In 1918, he be­came Ge­ne­ral Ed­it­or of the pub­li­ca­tions of the Uni­ver­si­ty Soc­ie­ty of New York, serv­ing un­til 1924, when he be­came con­sult­ing ed­it­or of the John C. Win­ston Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny of Penn­syl­van­ia.

Works

• The Queens of Ava­lon, 1911
• The Com­ing Ge­ne­ra­tion (New York & Lon­don: D. Ap­ple­ton, 1912)
• Manual of Sto­ries, 1915
• The Won­der Book of Myths and Le­gends (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John C. Win­ston, 1928)
• Myths and Le­gends of Greece and Rome