How much is known about the man who was chosen to represent the first letter of our alphabet streets? He was said to be a talented genius! Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on November 11, 1836 and was a poet, short story writer, traveler and an editor. He must have loved writing because at the age of 13, he left school and began contributing to newspapers and magazines.
When still a child, his father had moved to New Orleans, but after 10 years he was sent back to Portsmouth to prepare for college. This period of his life is partly described in his semi autobiog-raphical novel, The Story of a Bad Boy (1870) of which the main character, Tom Bailey is the juvenile hero. It has been said that this novel contains the first realistic depiction of childhood in American fiction and prepared the way for Huckleberry Finn.
When his father died in 1849, Aldrich abandoned the idea of going to college and entered his uncle’s business office in New York. It was then 1852 and he was 16. Here he was a constant contributor to newspapers and magazines, and the intimate friend of young poets and artists of the metropolitan Bohemia of the early 1860s. In the ‘50s he had been on the staff of the Home Journal, while during the Civil War he was editor of the New York Illustrated News.
In 1865 he moved to Boston and was an editor for 10 years for Ticknor and Fields. Then in 1875, at the height of the popularity of their weekly, Every Saturday, it was abruptly discontinued. From 1881 to 1890 he was the editor of the Atlantic Monthly.
Meanwhile Aldrich had written much, both in prose and verse. His genius was many sided, and it is surprising that so busy an editor and so prolific a writer could have attained the perfection of form for which he was known. Starting with The Ballad of Babie Bell in 1856 and many other works through 1900, showed him to be a poet of lyrical skill. It is said that no American poet has shown more skill in describing some single picture, mood, situation or episode.
Beginning with the collection of stories entitled Marjorie Daw and Other People, Aldrich applied to his prose the same exacting care in composition which he did to his verse. His most popular book, The Story of a Bad Boy, was based on Aldrich’s own experience growing up in Portsmouth. It appeared in a year-long serial in Our Young Folks—it would be published in book form in 1870. By “bad boy” Aldrich explained that it actually meant “a real human boy.” It was a semi-biographical and nostalgic tale of his own boyhood and would later become a classic children’s book. His use of the surprise ending influenced the development of the short story in the U.S. His poems reflected New England culture and his experience visiting Europe.
He passed away March 19,1907. So that is whom Aldrich Avenue was named for. If you feel any inclination to write poetry or prose, it may just be his spirit influencing you!
Note: Taken from Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition and Wikipedia.