Thomas Bangs Thorpe

His father died when the boy was four years old and the family, which then included two other children, soon moved to Albany, New York, to live with Farnham's parents.

[2] He then attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut from 1834 until 1836, and while at college gave evidence of artistic and literary talent.

[2] His popularity as a writer of humorous stories and character sketches set in the old Southwest grew with the publication of "The Big Bear of Arkansas" in Spirit of the Times in 1841.

His best-known short stories are "Tom Owen, The Bee-Hunter" and "The Big Bear of Arkansas", inspired by the natural scenery of the Southwest.

[4] Thorpe's 1854 anti-slavery novel The Master's House focuses on a young man from North Carolina who was educated at a college in New England, then moved to Louisiana with his slaves and established a plantation there.