Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Thoreau, Henry David

THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (thō'rō), an American author; born in Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817, and educated at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1837. From that time till 1840 he was a schoolmaster. He engaged also in land surveying, carpentering and other handicrafts, but devoting a great part of his time to study and the contemplation of nature. In 1845 he built for himself a hut in a wood near Walden pond. Concord, Mass., and there for two years lived. After quitting his solitude, Thoreau pursued his father's calling of pencil maker at Concord. Besides contributing to the &ldquo;Dial&rdquo; and other periodicals, he published &ldquo;A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers&rdquo; (1849), and &ldquo;Walden, or Life in the Woods&rdquo; (1854). After his death appeared &ldquo;Excursions in Field and Forest,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Maine Woods,&rdquo; &ldquo;Cape Cod,&rdquo; and &ldquo;A Yankee in Canada.&rdquo; Thoreau was a friend of Emerson. He died in Concord, May 6, 1862.



HENRY DAVID THOREAU