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.