The House of a Thousand Candles
By Meredith Nicholson
“So I remember!” I interposed, recalling my stormy interviews with John Marshall Glenarm over my choice of a profession.
“In the last few years, he has turned more and more to his books. He placed out there what is, I suppose, the finest collection of books relating to architecture to be found in this country. That was his chief hobby, after church affairs, as you may remember, and he rode it hard. But he derived a great deal of satisfaction from his studies.”
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Meredith Nicholson
Meredith Nicholson (December 9, 1866 – December 21, 1947) was a best-selling author, politician, and diplomat from Indiana, United States.
Biography
Nicholson was born on December 9, 1866, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Edward Willis Nicholson and the former Emily Meredith. Largely self-taught, Nicholson began a newspaper career in 1884 at the Indianapolis Sentinel. He moved to the Indianapolis News the following year and remained there until 1897.
He wrote Short Flights in 1891 and continued to publish poetry and prose extensively until 1928. During the first quarter of the 20th century, Nicholson, Booth Tarkington, George Ade, and James Whitcomb Riley helped create a Golden Age of literature in Indiana. Three of his books from that era were national bestsellers: The House of a Thousand Candles (#4 in 1906), The Port of Missing Men (#3 in 1907), and A Hoosier Chronicle (#5 in 1912).
In 1928, Nicholson entered Democratic party politics and served as a city councillor in Indianapolis for two years. He rose through the ranks of the Democratic party and was rewarded with appointments as envoy to Paraguay, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Nicholson was married first to Eugenie Clementine Kountze, daughter of Herman Kountze, and then to Dorothy Wolfe Lannon, whom he later divorced.
Nicholson died on December 21, 1947, in Indianapolis at 81 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.
Meredith Nicholson
