REVISED GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND OF SUSSEX

SUSSEX COUNTY DELAWARE

GEORGE TOWNSEND, WRITER

George Alfred Townsend, Sussex writer, was writing before modern electronics were

in competition, such as television of the internet. He was born in Georgetown, January

30, 1841, to the Rev. Stephen and Mrs. Mary Fleming Milbourne Townsend . Reverend

Townsend was a Methodist clergyman for more than fifty years in Sussex County.

In the year 1850 , age 9 year, he was a resident of Port Deposit, Cecil county, Maryland.

When in his teenage years he developed a talent for writing and as the Civil War came

about he took a job with the New York Herald as correspondent. His vivid descriptions of

fighting in the Virginia's eared him a large following and a growing reputation.

At age 24, on the 21^st of December, 1865, at the St. Philips Episcopal Church in

Philadelphia, he married Elizabeth Evan Rhodes who lived from 1842 to 1903, died inWashington, D. C. and they had two children, a daughter, Genevieve, who lived 1866 to 1943, a son Junior, who lived 1874 to 1948.

In the year 1870 he was resident of Washington, D. C.

After the war, he took the pen name “Gath” and continued to write about important current events. During 1867, while in Washington, D. C. he became a friend of Samuel Langhorn Clemens. He, Clemens and other writers tried to 'syndicate' their columns,

sending articles to many different newspapers, however, nothing came of the plan.

Townsend wrote twenty one columns a week for the Cincinnati Enquirer, two for Philadelphia Times, two for the Boston Globe and several for the New York Tribune. This he does with just two assistants.

In addition to the newspaper work, Townsend also wrote poetry, biographies, and novels. The most famous being “The Entailed Hat” which drew upon the Delmarva Peninsula

history which marked the pinnacle of his career and his popularity began a decline even

though he wrote for two decades longer.

In 1884 his residence was at “Gapland”, Burkittsville, Frederick County, Maryland

In the early 1900's he came down with diabetes and his failing health and a changing public taste for news, made it difficult for him to earn a living. He was forced to sell his library to pay his bills.

In 1911, Samuel Bancroft, a Wilmington industrialist underwrites the publication of

Townsend's poems , 'Poems of the Delmarva Peninsula” that were published two years

later..

When Townsend died in Manhatten, New York City, on April 15, 1914, he had been

virtually forgotten by the American public. He was buried in Laural Hill Cemetery,

Philadelphia. .

Abstract: Michael Morgan, Sussex Journal, Delawarebeaches.com, Wednesday, 25 April

2018, by Harrison H.