Hittell, December 25, 1825 – March 8, 1901) was an American author, historian, and journalist of the United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought.

Hittell wrote on a wide variety of topics including history, mining, Christianity, Pantheism, phrenology, morality, and politics.

Starting in 1839, Hittell attended Miami University and learned Latin, Greek, French, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Rhetoric.

His studies were interrupted by dyspepsia and headaches which Hittell attempted to cure by long walks and working on a farm in Hake County, Indiana.

[1] In the spring of 1849 during the excitement of the gold rush he left the bank of the Missouri River with a company of adventurers en route to California.

In 1852 Hittell moved to San Francisco and in 1853 joined the editorial staff of the "Alta California", where he remained employed for the following 25 years.

[4] In 1867 Hittell filed a patent for a new Washing Machine which he described as "consisting of an upright paddle-wheel common wash-tub, and is much more expeditious than the Wash-board".

These were Odic-Magnetic Letters and a section of the large work, The Sensitive Man and His Relation to Od, titled Somnambulism and Cramp.

Upon hearing that Hittell was to write a series of lectures against Christianity, famed early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement Parley P. Pratt sent him a letter.