ABSTRACT
Francis Brett Harte, who used the name Bret Harte, was born in Albany, New York, on August 25, 1836, to Henry Harte and Elizabeth Rebecca Ostrander Harte. His heritage was one half English, one quarter Dutch and one quarter Jewish. Harte's father was an educated, scholarly man who earned a living by teaching in private schools, lecturing and translating. During his childhood, Harte displayed his father's love for reading. He particularly enjoyed the novels of Charles Dickens, an important influence throughout his life. His main interest, however, was poetry. At the age of eleven he had his first publication, a poem in the New York Sunday Morning Atlas. In 1857, he got his first newspaper job on the Northern Californian. In the 1860s Harte became a known literary figure. Despite his family's misgivings, he married Anna Griswold in 1862.
