On The Blockade

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William Taylor Adams, American author, better known and loved by boys and girls through his pseudonym "Oliver Optic," was born July 30, 1822, in the town of Medway, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, about twenty-five miles from Boston. For twenty years he was a teacher in the Public Schools of Boston, where he came in close contact with boy life. These twenty years taught him how to reach the boy's heart and interest as the popularity of his books attest.

His story writing began in 1850 when he was twenty-eight years old and his first book was published in 1853. He also edited The Oliver Optic Magazine, The Student and Schoolmate, and Our Little Ones.

In 1865 Mr. Adams began writing full time and completed in all about 125 books and more than 1000 stories, always using a pseudonym. Most of his books were published in series. He was a prolific writer and his stories often led their heroes through eccentric yet educational adventures.

In 1869 Mr. Adams served one term in the Massachusetts legislature; he declined a renomination.

William Taylor Adams died at the age of seventy-five, in Boston, March 27, 1897.