Eggleston was born in
Vevay, Indiana on December 10, 1837, to Joseph Cary Eggleston and Mary Jane Craig. The author
George Cary Eggleston was his brother. As a child, he was too ill to regularly attend school, so his education was primarily provided by his father. He was ordained as a
Methodist minister in 1856. He wrote a number of tales, some of which, especially the "Hoosier" series, attracted much attention. Among these are
The Hoosier Schoolmaster,
The Hoosier Schoolboy,
The End of the World,
The Faith Doctor, and
Queer Stories for Boys and Girls. Eggleston used well-known historical events as the basis for several of his novels. In
The End of the World, he describes the build-up to the
Second Coming of Christ in 1843, as prophesied by
William Miller, set in southern Indiana.
The Graysons is a fictionalized account of a
famous murder trial that
Abraham Lincoln won in 1858 in central Illinois. Other books were romanticized stories based on his personal experiences, including
The Mystery of Metropolisville, about land speculation in southern Minnesota, and
The Circuit Rider, about itinerant preachers, set in southwestern Ohio. Most of his novels contain characters who speak in local "dialect". He wrote many articles for the children's magazine
The Little Corporal, and in 1866, he worked as an editor for the periodical. In December 1866 he accepted a higher-paying editorial position at
The Sunday School Teacher. From 1869 to 1877 Eggleston edited the eight-page weekly publication
Little Folks, advertised as being "an illustrated Paper, for every Sunday, for Infant Scholars." He wrote two stories for each issue. In 1871 he was briefly the supervising editor of the New York periodical
The Independent. His boyhood home at Vevay, Indiana, known as the
Edward and George Cary Eggleston House, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1973. His summer home,
Owl's Nest, in
Lake George, New York, eventually became his year-round home. Eggleston died there on September 3, 1902, at the age of 64. Owl's Nest was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 1971. His oldest daughter, the writer
Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye, was married to
Elwyn Seelye, the founder of the
New York State Historical Association. His second daughter,
Allegra Eggleston, was an artist and illustrator. She collaborated with her sister and her father on a number of books including
The Story of Columbus,
The Story of Washington, and
The Graysons. He had a third daughter, Blanche, and a son, Edward William, who died at age 3. == Religious background ==