Henry Van Dyke

Henry Van Dyke, American clergyman, educator, and author, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1852.

Educated in theology at Princeton University and in Berlin, he served as a pastor for twenty years, first in Newport, Rhode Island, and then at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.

In 1900 he became professor of English Literature at Princeton, and from 1913 to 1916 he was United States minister to the Netherlands. Later, as naval chaplain he was awarded the Legion of Honor.

The Story of the Other Wise Man, written in 1896, and The First Christmas Tree, 1897, were first read aloud to his congregation in New York.

His Christmas sermons, essays, poetry, and short stories, revealing a classical education combined with a charming, down-to-earth sensibility, have made him a popular and enduring writer. Van Dyke died in 1933.