Stuart, Jesse, 1906-1984

Jesse Stuart was a famous Kentucky novelist, short-story writer, poet, and teacher.

Chuck Hand, antiques dealer and teacher, was a personal friend of Jesse Stuart. His interest in Jesse Stuart began in 1966. He earned an MA in geography from EIU in 1973 and taught in Paris, IL from 1967-1999. Chuck became a rare book dealer in 1989, specializing in Abraham Lincoln.

Lucille Jordan Palmer was a classmate of Stuart's at Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee. They remained friends until his death.

Kentucky author and poet.

American poet and novelist.

Kentucky novelist and poet.

Jesse Stuart was born on August 8, 1906, in W-Hollow, near Riverton, Kentucky, the son of Mitchell and Martha Hilton Stuart. After graduation from local schools, he attended Lincoln Memorial University, graduating in 1929, and went on to attend graduate school at Vanderbilt University and Peabody College. He taught school in Greenup County, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, and served as superintendent of Greenup County schools from 1932 until 1934. In 1934, his first major book of verse, Man with a Bull-Tongued Plow, appeared, and he received the Jeannette Sewal Davis poetry prize. In 1937, the award of a Guggenheim fellowship allowed him to travel abroad. During World War II he served in the United States Naval Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant (junior grade). He resumed his travels abroad by accepting the position of visiting professor of English and education at the American University, Cairo, Egypt, during 1960 and 1961; in 1962 and 1963 he served as an American specialist abroad for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department. He also traveled in the Middle and Far East as a lecturer for the United States Information Service. He was the recipient of many awards, among them the Academy of Arts and Sciences award, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial award, the Berea College Centennial award for literature, the Academy of American Poets award, several honorary degrees, and a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1939, he married Naomi Deane Norris; their daughter, Jessica Jane Stuart (Mrs. Julian Juergensmeyer), is also an accomplished author and poet. Prior to his death on February 17, 1984, Jesse Stuart had been seriously ill and bedfast for four years, following a long history of heart attacks and a massive stroke. He was buried in the Plum Grove cemetery near his home in W-Hollow.

Teacher, farmer, author. Born in Greenup County, Kentucky. Graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in 1929. Teacher and administrator in Kentucky for many years. A prolific author, Mr. Stuart wrote many novels, short stories and poems.

Kentucky author.

Author and educator.

Jesse Hilton Stuart, writer, was born in Greenup County, Kentucky, on August 8, 1906. He earned a degree at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1929 and then returned to Greenup County to teach. He began writing stories about the hill people of northeastern Kentucky while he was in college and was encouraged to continue writing by Donald Davidson, a poet who was one of his professors at Vanderbilt where Stuart had graduate studies in 1931-32. He began publishing books of poetry in the 1930's and published his autobiography, "Beyond Dark Hills", in 1938. His first novel, "Trees of Heaven", was published in 1940. In 1954, Stuart was designated poet laureate of Kentucky and was made a fellow of the Academy of American Poets in 1961. Many of his manuscripts, letters, and memorabilia were given by Stuart to Murray State University in 1960. In 1979, he established the Jesse Stuart Foundation to maintain control over the rights to his literary works and to oversee the nature preserve, W-Hollow. Stuart died in 1984 and was buried in Plum Grove Cemetery in Greenup County.

American author.

Jesse Stuart was born and raised in a log cabin in Greenup County, Kentucky, and lived there essentially his entire life. His early education was erratic, but he received encouragement, and walked five miles each day to attend high school; he was accepted to Lincoln Memorial College in Harrogate, Tennessee. After graduation, he became a teacher in Greenup County, and later did graduate work at Vanderbilt, where he was encouraged to write; his first published work was a book of sonnets. He became a prolific and diverse writer, publishing essays, short stories, novels, and autobiography, concentrating almost exclusively on the Appalachian world of W-Hollow in Greenup County. A farmer, teacher, lecturer, and civil servant, he was Kentucky's Poet Laureate, and although his subject matter was regional, his audience was international.

Author, poet.

Jesse Hilton Stuart was born in W-Hollow near Riverton in Greenup County, Ky. The son of an illiterate farmer, Stuart is recognized as an outstanding regional author. In 1929 he received an A.B. degree from Lincoln Memorial University and attended Vanderbilt University in 1931-32, studying there when "The Fugitives" were active. When his 19 stanza poem ELEGY FOR MITCH STUART was published by the AMERICAN MERCURY magazine in 1933, Stuart credited Robert Penn Warren and Donald Davidson for encouraging him to submit his work. In 1954 Stuart was chosen by the Kentucky legislature as Poet Laureate of Eastern Kentucky.

Jesse Hilton Stuart (1906-1984) was an award-winning writer born in W-Hollow near Greenup, Kentucky. He studied under Donald Davidson and Robert Penn Warren as a graduate student in English at Vanderbilt University. He made friendships with other writers there, including James Still and Don West. In addition to publishing both short stories and poems, Studart also enjoyed success as a writer of essays and novels. He wrote nine novels. He was also the author of eight books for young people and half a dozen autobiographical books. One such book, Thread That Runs So True (1949), which captures Stuart's experiences as student, teacher, administrator, and lecturer on education, was named the most important book of the year by the National Educational Association. Stuart suffered a heart attach in 1954 and a disabling stroke in 1978. In 1982 he suffered another stroke that left him comatose for two years until his death in Ironton, Ohio. After his first stroke, however, he had created the Jesse Stuart Foundation to serve as caretaker of his literary estate (1979) and in 1980 presented hi W-Hollow farm to the state of Kentucky to be operated in perpetuity as a nature preserve. In 1982 his home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Jesse Hilton Stuart - National Biography Online http://www.anb.org (Retrieved March 10, 2009)

Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958) was a poet and novelist born near Blairsville, Georgia. In 1935 he graduated from Blairsville High School and entered nearby Young Harris College, a small Methodist junior college. He soon has to drop out to help on the family farm. At night he read and wrote down lyrical passages that had come to him during his work that day. In 1935 Reece burned all the poems he had written, being unsure of their worth. But by the end of 1938 he had published thirty-one poems in poetry journals or national magazines. In 1938 Reece returned to Young Harris College on a work fellowship. This was the first time in his life that Reece was able to discuss writing with kindered spirits. He left Young Harris in 1940 without graduating because he refused to take the required courses in mathematics and French. In 1945 E. P. Dutton, upon the recommendaton of Jesse Stuart, published Reece's first volume of poetry, Ballad of the Bones, which garnered many favorable reviews. He was poet-in-residence at Young Harris College, UCLA and Emory. In 1954, Reece has to enter Battey Hospital, a state tuberculosis sanitorium in Rome, Georgia. In 1956 he was recovered physically enough to return to academia. In 1957 Reece returned to Young Harris College and was able to complete the academic year. He committed suicide at the college, probably because of his health problems and loneliness. Byron Herbert Reece - National Biography Online http://www.anb.org (Retrieved March 10, 2009)

Rev. David Ogletree lived in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Rev.Ogletree performed a one-man Lincoln interpretation show in the Atlanta area for many years, where he brought the humor, warmth and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln to thousands of people. Ogletree has been a lifelong collector of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia and also a long-time admirer of Young Harris professor emeritus Bettie Sellers.

Author, poet.

Jesse Hilton Stuart was born in W-Hollow near Riverton in Greenup County, Ky in 1907. The son of an illiterate farmer, Stuart has been recognized as an outstanding regional author. He was the first of his family to graduate from high school and in 1929 he received an A.B. degree from Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tn.). After graduation he enjoyed a distinguished career as a school teacher, principal and eventually superintendent of Greenup County Schools. He achieved fame, however, as a poet and writer of short stories, novels and articles. Stuart was honored by Lincoln Memorial University in 1942 with a Ph. D. in Human Letters and in 1954 was named poet laureate of eastern Kentucky by the Kentucky legislature. Jesse Stuart married Naomi Dean Norris and they had one daughter, Jane.

The author Jesse Stuart was born in 1906, in Greenup County, Kentucky, to Mitchell and Martha (Hilton) Stuart. He graduated from Greenup High School in 1926 and from Lincoln Memorial University in 1929. He worked as a teacher and administrator in Kentucky schools and a farmer in W-Hollow, Kentucky. During this time, he wrote about life in his home state: the land and the people. He married Naomi Dean Norris in October of 1939 and had one child, Jessica Jane. He died due to complications following a series of strokes on February 17, 1984 in Ironton, Ohio.

Stuart wrote volumes of novels, short stories, and poems. His work includes Man with a Bull-Tongue Plow, his first published books of poetry, and several autobiographical works: Beyond Dark Hills, The Thread that Runs so True, The Year of My Rebirth, and God's Oddling . His poetry and short stories have appeared in various periodicals, and the number of his published works exceeds thirty volumes.

The author Jesse Stuart was born in 1906, in Greenup County, Kentucky, to Mitchell and Martha (Hilton) Stuart. He graduated from Greenup High School in 1926 and from Lincoln Memorial University in 1929. He worked as a teacher and administrator in Kentucky schools and a farmer in W-Hollow, Kentucky. During this time, he wrote about life in his home state: the land and the people. He married Naomi Dean Norris in October of 1939 and had one child, Jessica Jane. He died due to complications following a series of strokes on February 17, 1984 in Ironton, Ohio.

Stuart wrote volumes of novels, short stories, and poems. His work includes Man with a Bull-Tongue Plow, his first published book of poetry, and several autobiographical works: Beyond Dark Hills, The Thread that Runs So True, The Year of My Rebirth, and God's Oddling . His poetry and short stories have appeared in various periodicals, and the number of his published works exceeds thirty volumes.