He was the poet laureate of Kentucky and affiliated with Carlile's Store in Lebanon, KY and Marion National Bank.
THE LEBANON ENTERPRISE, pages 1-2, Thursday, February 5, 1970. Edwin Carlisle Litsey, Poet Laureate Dies.
Edwin Carlisle Litsey, 95, nationally known novelist, story writer and poet - since 1954 Poet Laureate of Kentucky - died at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, 1970, at Marian Manor, where he had been a resident since June.
Mr. Litsey was born in "Poor Town" on the Little Beech River in Washington County, on June 3, 1874, a son of William Henry and Sarah E. Johnson Litsey. His maternal ancestors were near relatives of the Lincolns and their lands adjoined. The village was called Beechland then, is called Litsey now.
He moved to Lebanon with his parents as a child of eight and though he later returned to Washington County to claim a bride, he has continued through the years to make his home here. Seventeen when his father died in 1891, he entered the business world by taking the post of runner at the Marion National Bank - and he never had served his affiliation there.
He admitted he lived a dual life for some 60-odd years. He learned the banking business from the ground up. He became bookkeeper, then teller, and still later, assistant cashier. He declined to go higher, for he had begun to write in his 20's and, while he realized that to be a banker is a practical thing for a fanciful writer, who wants to eat regularly, he coveted the time "around the edges" of his bread-and-butter job for self-expression.
His first novel was published when he was 26 - The Princess of Gramfalon." He had published 13 books-nine novels, one volume of short stories and animal life, one novelette and two books of poetry. His "What of Tomorrow?" won first place among 491 entries in a nation-wide contest. Another of his books of poetry was THE FILLED CUP. It was published The Standard Publishing Company in Louisville, Kentucky in 1931. Most of the p[oems in this work speak of the people and place of and in Marion County, Kentucky.
His second novel was "The Love Story of Abner Stone", published in 1902. Next came "The Race of the Swift," a collection of short stories-about wild animals in the knob country of Washington and Marion counties. "A Man from Jericho," this one a romance laid in Marion County, was published in 1911.
"A Mail of the Kentucky Hills" was published in 1913, and "A Bluegrass Cavalier," in 1922, in both the United States and England.
Litsey's masterpiece, "Stones for Bread," was published in 1940. Other works include "Grist," "Shadow Shapes," The Eternal Flame," "Spindrift" and "The Filled Cup."
He married the former Carrie Selecman, daughter of Judge William E. and Sallie Robertson Selecman in 1900. She died in 1910.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Frank Wilson (Sarah) Nye of West Redding, Conn., who is an author and poet in her own right; and a grandson Christopher Nye of Garden City, N.Y.
The body is at Bosley Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.
He is buried in Section G.
THE LEBANON ENTERPRISE, pages 1-2, Thursday, February 5, 1970. Edwin Carlisle Litsey, Poet Laureate Dies.
Edwin Carlisle Litsey, 95, nationally known novelist, story writer and poet - since 1954 Poet Laureate of Kentucky - died at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, 1970, at Marian Manor, where he had been a resident since June.
Mr. Litsey was born in "Poor Town" on the Little Beech River in Washington County, on June 3, 1874, a son of William Henry and Sarah E. Johnson Litsey. His maternal ancestors were near relatives of the Lincolns and their lands adjoined. The village was called Beechland then, is called Litsey now.
He moved to Lebanon with his parents as a child of eight and though he later returned to Washington County to claim a bride, he has continued through the years to make his home here. Seventeen when his father died in 1891, he entered the business world by taking the post of runner at the Marion National Bank - and he never had served his affiliation there.
He admitted he lived a dual life for some 60-odd years. He learned the banking business from the ground up. He became bookkeeper, then teller, and still later, assistant cashier. He declined to go higher, for he had begun to write in his 20's and, while he realized that to be a banker is a practical thing for a fanciful writer, who wants to eat regularly, he coveted the time "around the edges" of his bread-and-butter job for self-expression.
His first novel was published when he was 26 - The Princess of Gramfalon." He had published 13 books-nine novels, one volume of short stories and animal life, one novelette and two books of poetry. His "What of Tomorrow?" won first place among 491 entries in a nation-wide contest. Another of his books of poetry was THE FILLED CUP. It was published The Standard Publishing Company in Louisville, Kentucky in 1931. Most of the p[oems in this work speak of the people and place of and in Marion County, Kentucky.
His second novel was "The Love Story of Abner Stone", published in 1902. Next came "The Race of the Swift," a collection of short stories-about wild animals in the knob country of Washington and Marion counties. "A Man from Jericho," this one a romance laid in Marion County, was published in 1911.
"A Mail of the Kentucky Hills" was published in 1913, and "A Bluegrass Cavalier," in 1922, in both the United States and England.
Litsey's masterpiece, "Stones for Bread," was published in 1940. Other works include "Grist," "Shadow Shapes," The Eternal Flame," "Spindrift" and "The Filled Cup."
He married the former Carrie Selecman, daughter of Judge William E. and Sallie Robertson Selecman in 1900. She died in 1910.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Frank Wilson (Sarah) Nye of West Redding, Conn., who is an author and poet in her own right; and a grandson Christopher Nye of Garden City, N.Y.
The body is at Bosley Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.
He is buried in Section G.
He was the poet laureate of Kentucky and affiliated with Carlile's Store in Lebanon, KY and Marion National Bank.
THE LEBANON ENTERPRISE, pages 1-2, Thursday, February 5, 1970. Edwin Carlisle Litsey, Poet Laureate Dies.
Edwin Carlisle Litsey, 95, nationally known novelist, story writer and poet - since 1954 Poet Laureate of Kentucky - died at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, 1970, at Marian Manor, where he had been a resident since June.
Mr. Litsey was born in "Poor Town" on the Little Beech River in Washington County, on June 3, 1874, a son of William Henry and Sarah E. Johnson Litsey. His maternal ancestors were near relatives of the Lincolns and their lands adjoined. The village was called Beechland then, is called Litsey now.
He moved to Lebanon with his parents as a child of eight and though he later returned to Washington County to claim a bride, he has continued through the years to make his home here. Seventeen when his father died in 1891, he entered the business world by taking the post of runner at the Marion National Bank - and he never had served his affiliation there.
He admitted he lived a dual life for some 60-odd years. He learned the banking business from the ground up. He became bookkeeper, then teller, and still later, assistant cashier. He declined to go higher, for he had begun to write in his 20's and, while he realized that to be a banker is a practical thing for a fanciful writer, who wants to eat regularly, he coveted the time "around the edges" of his bread-and-butter job for self-expression.
His first novel was published when he was 26 - The Princess of Gramfalon." He had published 13 books-nine novels, one volume of short stories and animal life, one novelette and two books of poetry. His "What of Tomorrow?" won first place among 491 entries in a nation-wide contest. Another of his books of poetry was THE FILLED CUP. It was published The Standard Publishing Company in Louisville, Kentucky in 1931. Most of the p[oems in this work speak of the people and place of and in Marion County, Kentucky.
His second novel was "The Love Story of Abner Stone", published in 1902. Next came "The Race of the Swift," a collection of short stories-about wild animals in the knob country of Washington and Marion counties. "A Man from Jericho," this one a romance laid in Marion County, was published in 1911.
"A Mail of the Kentucky Hills" was published in 1913, and "A Bluegrass Cavalier," in 1922, in both the United States and England.
Litsey's masterpiece, "Stones for Bread," was published in 1940. Other works include "Grist," "Shadow Shapes," The Eternal Flame," "Spindrift" and "The Filled Cup."
He married the former Carrie Selecman, daughter of Judge William E. and Sallie Robertson Selecman in 1900. She died in 1910.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Frank Wilson (Sarah) Nye of West Redding, Conn., who is an author and poet in her own right; and a grandson Christopher Nye of Garden City, N.Y.
The body is at Bosley Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.
He is buried in Section G.
THE LEBANON ENTERPRISE, pages 1-2, Thursday, February 5, 1970. Edwin Carlisle Litsey, Poet Laureate Dies.
Edwin Carlisle Litsey, 95, nationally known novelist, story writer and poet - since 1954 Poet Laureate of Kentucky - died at 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, 1970, at Marian Manor, where he had been a resident since June.
Mr. Litsey was born in "Poor Town" on the Little Beech River in Washington County, on June 3, 1874, a son of William Henry and Sarah E. Johnson Litsey. His maternal ancestors were near relatives of the Lincolns and their lands adjoined. The village was called Beechland then, is called Litsey now.
He moved to Lebanon with his parents as a child of eight and though he later returned to Washington County to claim a bride, he has continued through the years to make his home here. Seventeen when his father died in 1891, he entered the business world by taking the post of runner at the Marion National Bank - and he never had served his affiliation there.
He admitted he lived a dual life for some 60-odd years. He learned the banking business from the ground up. He became bookkeeper, then teller, and still later, assistant cashier. He declined to go higher, for he had begun to write in his 20's and, while he realized that to be a banker is a practical thing for a fanciful writer, who wants to eat regularly, he coveted the time "around the edges" of his bread-and-butter job for self-expression.
His first novel was published when he was 26 - The Princess of Gramfalon." He had published 13 books-nine novels, one volume of short stories and animal life, one novelette and two books of poetry. His "What of Tomorrow?" won first place among 491 entries in a nation-wide contest. Another of his books of poetry was THE FILLED CUP. It was published The Standard Publishing Company in Louisville, Kentucky in 1931. Most of the p[oems in this work speak of the people and place of and in Marion County, Kentucky.
His second novel was "The Love Story of Abner Stone", published in 1902. Next came "The Race of the Swift," a collection of short stories-about wild animals in the knob country of Washington and Marion counties. "A Man from Jericho," this one a romance laid in Marion County, was published in 1911.
"A Mail of the Kentucky Hills" was published in 1913, and "A Bluegrass Cavalier," in 1922, in both the United States and England.
Litsey's masterpiece, "Stones for Bread," was published in 1940. Other works include "Grist," "Shadow Shapes," The Eternal Flame," "Spindrift" and "The Filled Cup."
He married the former Carrie Selecman, daughter of Judge William E. and Sallie Robertson Selecman in 1900. She died in 1910.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Frank Wilson (Sarah) Nye of West Redding, Conn., who is an author and poet in her own right; and a grandson Christopher Nye of Garden City, N.Y.
The body is at Bosley Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.
He is buried in Section G.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
