John Treat Irving (1812-1906)

He was born at New York City, a nephew of the famous author Washington Irving. He graduated from Columbia College (1828) and became a lawyer with interests in real estate and stockbroking. In 1833, he accompanied a party headed by Indian Treaty Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth "to visit the wild tribes on the prairies" and make treaties with the Pawnee Indians which resulted in his first book, Indian Sketches (1835). Two years later, he published his novel, The Hunters of The Prairie, or The Hawk Chief: A Tale of the Indian Country. Both books, "were expressions of that gentlemanly and urban concern for the frontier which so interested Washington Irving on his return from Europe in 1832... It was the record of an excursion [as the author said] 'fraught with novelty and pleasurable excitement,' conveying 'an idea of the habits and customs of the Indian tribes... who, at the time, lived in their pristine simplicity, uncontaminated by the vices of the lawless white men." Other works by Irving included The Van Gelder Papers and The Attorney. He was a member of the Authors Club; the St. Nicholas Society; and, the Columbia Alumni and Century Associations. He married Helen Schermerhorn, sister of The Mrs Astor, founder of the 400, and had eight children (listed).