Henry David Thoreau

The Maine Woods . Henry David Thoreau

Early life and education, 1817-1837Thoreau's birthplace, the Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse in Concord, MassachusettsHenry David Thoreau was born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts, into the "modest New England family" of John Thoreau, a pencil maker, and Cynthia Dunbar. His paternal grandfather had been born on the UK crown dependency island of Jersey. His maternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar, led Harvard's 1766 student "Butter Rebellion", the first recorded student protest in the American colonies. David Henry was named after his recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau. He began to call himself Henry David after he finished college; he never petitioned to make a legal name change. He had two older siblings, Helen and John Jr., and a younger sister, Sophia Thoreau. None of the children married. Helen (1812-1849) died at age 36 years, from tuberculosis. John Jr. (1815-1842) died at age 27, of tetanus. Henry David (1817-1862) died at age 44, of tuberculosis. Sophia (1819-1876) survived him by 14 years, dying at age 57 years, of tuberculosis. The Maine Woods is one of several excursion books by Henry David Thoreau. The copy presented here is the first book edition, published in the United States in 1864. Two of the sections had previously appeared in print: "Ktaadn" was published in The Union Magazine, (New York, ) in 1848, and "Chesuncook" in the Atlantic Monthly, in 1858. The final essay was printed for the first time in this 1864 volume