Sedgwick, S. J. (Stephen James)

S. J. Sedgwick was born near Geneva, New York, probably in the 1820s, the son of a glassmaker. He became a principal in the Buffalo public school system at the age of 22, and went on to establish his own school, the Metropolitan Academy and Gymnasium, in New York City in 1852. He also edited the "Gymnast," a paper dedicated to physical education. In 1857 he received a Master's Degree from Union College, and taught in the New York City public schools from 1858 until the Civil War. Following the war, he joined the photographic corps of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. When he returned to New York, he developed a popular series of lantern slide lectures called "Across the Continent," showing the West from Omaha to the Pacific, which was successful for many years. In 1873, Sedgwick worked as an agent for "Crofutt's Trans-Continental Tourists' Guide," travelling again throughout the West. Sedgwick also lectured on world religions, geology, astronomy, and art history.