Charles Pierce Burton

Charles Pierce Burton, (1862-1949) was a newspaper columnist and author of the "Bob's Hill" young adult books.

Biographical details

Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana, in Madison County.^[1] His father worked for a newspaper and met his mother when she wrote columns for the paper as a student.^[2] As a child, Burton moved to Massachusetts, where he hiked around a ridge called Bob's Hill. This ridge would be the setting of most of Burton's later books. After the death of his mother, Burton and his father eventually moved to Aurora, Illinois. Burton attended East Aurora High School, where he graduated in 1880.

Burton began writing books after hearing an editor mention that he was looking for a series of boys' books. Burton set his books in a fictionalized version of Adams, Massachusetts.^[3] The Bob's Hill series eventually covered 12 books, whose characters traveled to many parts of the world.^[4]

Burton worked as the editor of Earth Mover magazine and wrote a history column for The Aurora Beacon-News. The columns were later collected into a book of historical stories about Aurora.^[2] Burton also published a collection of light essays entitled, "The Bashful Man and Others".^[5]

List of books by Charles Pierce Burton

• The Boys of Bob’s Hill: The Adventures of Tom Chapin And The “Band”, as Told By The “Secretary" (1905)
• The Bob’s Cave Boys (1909)
• The Bob’s Hill Braves (1910)
• The Boy Scouts of Bob’s Hill (1912)^[6][7]
• Camp Bob’s Hill (1915)
• Raven Patrol of Bob’s Hill (1916)^[8]
• Bob’s Hill Trails (1922)
• Treasure Hunters of Bob’s Hill (1926)^[9]
• Bob’s Hill Meets the Andes: Doings of the “Band” in South America as Told In the Minutes (1928)
• Bob’s Hill Boys in the Everglades (1932)^[10]
• Bob’s Hill On the Air: Some Adventures the Secretary Failed to Record In The “Minutes of the Meeting” (1934)^[11]
• Bob’s Hill Boys in Virginia (1939)

References

1. Alberta Lawrence (1921). Who's who Among North American Authors. Golden Syndicate Publishing Company.
2. "Pierce Burton was county's first kids author". The Herald Bulletin. 2013. Retrieved February 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
3. "Walking Tour of Historic Park Street". Town of Adams, Massachusetts. 2014. Retrieved February 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
4. Indiana Authors and Their Books, 1816-1916: Biographical Sketches of Authors who Published During the First Century of Indiana Statehood, with Lists of Their Books. Wabash College. 1949.
5. History of Kane County, Illinois. The Pioneer Publishing Co. 1908. Retrieved February 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
6. Jerome Weidman (26 March 2013). Fourth Street East: A Novel of How It Was. Open Road Media. pp. 199–. ISBN 978-1-4804-1072-5.
7. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. (December 1912). Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. pp. 34–. ISSN 0006-8608.
8. Publishers Weekly. R.R. Bowker Company. 1919.
9. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. (November 1927). Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. pp. 66–. ISSN 0006-8608.
10. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. (December 1932). Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. pp. 40–. ISSN 0006-8608.
11. "BOB'S HILL ON THE AIR". Kirkus Review

• "Five Hundred Leading Books of the Season". New York Times.
• "PUBLISHERS PROMISE AN EARLY SEASON". New York Times
• "We are Bob's Hill boys and Grey lock boys". North Adams Transcript, Saturday, April 23, 1977, Page 16

External links

• Works by Charles Pierce Burton at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Charles Pierce Burton at Internet Archive