Orville James Victor

Orville James Victor (October 23, 1827 – March 14, 1910) was an American writer and editor in chief.^[1]

Orville James Victor

Biography

Victor was born in Sandusky, Ohio to Henry Clay Victor and Gertrude Nash Victor, and had seven siblings; his father operated a hotel in Sandusky.^[2]

He studied in the Norwalk Seminary and graduated in 1847. He decided to pursue writing as a profession and in 1852 was hired as an assistant-editor of the Sandusky Daily Register.^[3] After marrying Metta Victoria Fuller in 1856, he moved with his wife to New York City where he edited the Cosmopolitan Art Journal and other publications.^[4] In 1861, Erastus Flavel Beadle recruited him as an editor for the Beadle firm, and Victor worked there for the next thirty-six years. Gilbert Patten wrote, "Mr. Victor taught me much . . . He was a cold-appearing, austere man, but one of the kindest and most helpful editors I've ever known."^[5]

During the American Civil War Victor wrote two books, History of the Southern Rebellion^[6] and History of American Conspiracies.^[7] In 1863 he visited England and published a pamphlet there entitled, "The American Rebellion; Its Causes and Objects: Facts for the English People."^[1]

Victor died at his home in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, on March 14, 1910, eighty-three years old.^[5]

Family

His wife, Metta Victoria Fuller, an author, died in Hohokus Township, New Jersey on June 26, 1886.^[8] He did not remarry and grieved her death until the end of the life.

John Harvey Whitson, a contributor to the Beadle's dime novel series, described Victor's loss in the following words,

He was old-fashioned. ... He spoke with feeling of his wife, long dead. I recall his remark, made almost with tears in his eyes, to the effect that love was a desolating thing when you had lost the object of your affection; that even in those late years he now and then turned suddenly, almost thinking he heard her step or her voice. Yet I think this gnawing life sorrow he suffered never crept into or injured his work. A great editor. Peace to his ashes."^[5]

Recognition

The now-defunct Orvil Township, in Bergen County, New Jersey, was named in his honor in 1885.^[9]

Orville James Victor is remembered for his long-time editorial work, from 1861 till 1897, for Beadle publishing company and for his own historical biographies and history books.^[5]