Born November 10, 1852, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and educated in theology at Brooklyn Polytechnic, Princeton, and Berlin, Henry Van Dyke worked twenty years as a minister, first in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1879 to 1883 and next in New York until 1899. His Christmas sermons, his essays, and his short stories made him a popular writer. His poems reveal a classical education as well as a common touch in matters of faith. He became Professor of English Literature at Princeton in 1900. During World War I he acted as American Minister to the Netherlands (913-16) and then naval chaplain, for which he was awarded the Legion of Honour. He died April 10, 1933.
Buggeln, John D. "van Dyke, Henry." American National Biography Online. American Council of Learned Societies: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Van Dyke, Tertius. Henry Van Dyke; a biography, by his son. New York: Harper 1935. PS 3118 .V3 Robarts Library.