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Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye | |
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| Born | (1850-08-25)August 25, 1850 |
| Died | February 22, 1896(1896-02-22) (aged 45) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Humorist, journalist |
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Edgar Wilson "Bill"Nye (August 25, 1850 – February 22, 1896) was an Americanhumorist. He was also the founder and editor of theLaramie Boomerang.
Nye was born inShirley, Maine. His parents removed to a farm on the St. Croix river in northern Wisconsin in 1852, and he was educated atRiver Falls, Wisconsin, where he studied law. He moved toWyoming Territory, and was admitted to the bar atLaramie City, Wyoming Territory in 1876. There he served asjustice of the peace,superintendent of schools, member of thecity council andpostmaster.[1] He began early to contribute humorous sketches to the newspapers, using the pen name of "Bill Nye" after a character in a famous poem byBret Harte popularly known as "The Heathen Chinee". He was connected with various western journals, and afterward settled inNew York City.[2]
TheBoomerang was founded while Nye was the postmaster of Laramie. It launched him to national fame, gaining subscribers in every state and some foreign countries. In 1892, he wrote inThe Century Magazine:
There is a grim and ghastly humor -- the humor that is born of a pathetic philosophy -- which now and then strikes me in reading the bright and keen-witted work of our American paragraphers. It is a humor that may be crystallized by hunger and sorrow and tears. It is not found elsewhere as it is in America. It is out of the question in England, because an Englishman cannot poke fun at himself. He cannot joke about an empty flour-barrel. We can: especially if by doing it we may swap the joke for another barrel of flour. We can never be a nation of snobs so long as we are willing to poke fun at ourselves.
Some of his works includeBill Nye's Comic History of the United States,Baled Hay,Remarks,Bill Nye and Boomerang,Bill Nye's History of England, andBill Nye's Red Book. He is credited with the remark "Wagner's music is better than it sounds.".
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Late in his career, he was briefly associated withJames Whitcomb Riley with whom he wrote two books. They also appeared together on the lecture circuit.[3] He also traveled and lectured withLuther Burbank.
He passed the later years of his life inArden, North Carolina where he died ofmeningitis, and was buried in Calvary Episcopal Churchyard in Fletcher, Henderson County, North Carolina. A historical marker honoring him is located inSt. Croix County, Wisconsin, between the towns of Roberts and River Falls, and a second is located in Fletcher, North Carolina. A small monument marks his birthplace in Shirley, Maine.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nye, Edgar Wilson".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 929–930.
