Harold Henry Frederick was born in
Utica, New York, on August 19, 1856, to
Presbyterian parents. He attended the Methodist church, but was generally skeptical towards religion. Frederic developed an early interest in photography and journalism. After his father was killed in a railroad accident when Frederic was 18 months old, the boy was raised primarily by his mother. He finished school at age fifteen, and soon began work as a photographer. For four years he was a photographic touch-up artist in his hometown and in
Boston. In 1875, he began work as a proofreader for the newspaper
The Utica Herald and then
The Utica Daily Observer. Frederic later became a reporter. Frederic married Grace Green Williams in 1877, and they had five children together. By 1882 he was editor of the newspaper
The Albany Evening Journal in the New York state capital. As editor of the
Journal, Frederic was involved with politics and notably supported the future president
Grover Cleveland for Governor of New York over Republican
Charles J. Folger in the
1882 New York state election; and although the support cost Frederic his job when the son of a Republican senator bought the paper in 1884, Frederic became an advisor to the Governor and when Cleveland became President of the United States, their friendship opened doors for Frederic as he was establishing himself in England. In 1884, Frederic went to live in England as
London correspondent of the
New York Times, and worked at this position for the rest of his life. It was in England that Frederic wrote his first important work of fiction, ''Seth's Brother's Wife
(1887), which was favorably reviewed and followed by such works as The Lawton Girl
(1890), In the Valley (1890), The Return of the O'Mahoney
(1892), The Copperhead
(1894), and Marsena
(1895). Damnation'' became a best seller and is Frederic's best known work; Frederic also wrote a range of historical fiction on such topics as the
American Revolution and the
American Civil War. Frederic, who did not share Lyon's faith, ignored both the doctors and Lyon's healer and eventually died, which led to a public scandal as his former wife Grace Frederic brought charges of manslaughter against Lyon and her healer, although both were later acquitted in trial. Frederic's wife also sued him for divorce just before he died. Frederic's 1893 work
The Copperhead, which dealt with the
American Civil War, was
adapted into a film in 2013. ==Works==