Sewell Ford

Biography

Sewell Ford, who is best remembered for his "Torchy" and "Shorty McCabe" stories, was born on 07 March, 1868, at South Levant, Maine, the son of John F. and Susan "Lottie" Morrill Ford. Sewell spent much of his youth in Cheboygan, Michigan, where his father was the local postmaster. Later his family moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts, where his father worked as a procurement clerk and Sewell studied Latin for four years. After abandoning an early ambition to be a smuggler, Sewell began his career as a newspaper reporter in Haverhill. Later he would go on to work as a reporter or editor on papers in Baltimore, Boston and New York. The last fifteen of his thirty-five year newspaper career was spent on the editorial staff of the American Press Association. Sewell's first book "Horses Nine: stories of harness and saddle was published in 1903 and was followed by "Truegate of Mogador, and other Cedarton Folks" and "Shorty McCabe" in 1906. Over the next sixteen years he would publish around twenty books, mostly "Torchy" and "Shorty McCabe" stories. On the evening of 5 December 1905, Sewell was reportedly among the approximately 170 literary figures that attended Mark Twain's 70th birthday party at Delmonico's in New York City. Sewell Ford died on 26 October, 1946, at Keene, New Hampshire. He was survived by his wife, the former Lillian Mayberry Sylvester (1868-1950), daughter Hazel and son Torry. After he retired from writing Sewell pursued his dream of becoming an amateur painter by traveling and studying abroad.