Henry Morford

Bio

(1823-1881) Author, journalist. Henry Morford was born in New Monmouth, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Morford had poems published in the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post. Soon after 1855 he moved to New York City, where he was employed as an editorial writer for newspapers, including the New York Atlas. Morford met with other authors at Pfaff’s, a popular New York City gathering spot. Morford wrote several novels with the Civil War as a setting. Morford wrote several plays, including “The Merchant’s Honor” and “The Bells of Shandon,” which was produced with John Brougham at Wallack’s Theater in New York City in 1867. A collection of essays, “Sprees and Splashes,” was published in 1863. He traveled to Europe in 1865, visiting England, Scotland, and France and recounted his travels in “Over-Sea” (1867). Upon returning to America, he published “Morford’s Short-Trip Guide to Europe” in 1868 and a counterpart, “Morford’s Short-Trip Guide to America,” in 1872 for Europeans visiting the United States. In 1876 Morford opened a bookstore in New York City that specialized in travel literature. He wrote travel guides for several consecutive years. Morford lived for many years in Brooklyn, New York, and founded a journal, the Brooklyn New Monthly Magazine. He edited this journal from 1880 until his death in 1881. Some of the material herein is edited from American National Biography Online Citation: Daniel Webster Hollis. “Morford, Henry.”