“The Westminster Abbey [The Poets' Corner]”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
Figure timeline
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington, as w…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · American writer, historian and diplomat (1783–1859) · politician · lawyer · writer · essayist · playwright · biographer · novelist · journalist · historian · ambassador · also Washington Irving, Diedrich Knickerbocker, Geoffrey Crayon, Lauuncelot Langstaff, Irving
Born 3 April 1783 · Died 28 November 1859 · Q181667
36 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
14 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 4 entries
“if this vote of the Senate goes far toward elevating him to the presidential chair”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“and gave me celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and uncommon in America”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“the Kaatskill Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish imagination”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
1996· 1 entry
To honor Washington Irving and capitalize on the popularity of the story "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
Washington Irving became the very first author to be honored on a U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1881· 1 entry
"yet belonging to the New World, there is a quaint Old World flavor about him"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1874· 1 entry
From parts of Clinton Township (Clinton Township is now part of Newark, New Jersey since 1902)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1865· 1 entry
The cemetery board of trustees would posthumously honor Irving's request that its name be changed to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1859· 6 entries
Died 1859-11-28.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Age 76—only eight months after completing the final volume of his Washington biography
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“Quando os amigos começam a cumprimentar uma pessoa por ter aparência de jovem, pode essa pessoa estar certa de que pensam que ela está ficando velha.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pt
“Uma língua afiada é a única ferramenta aguçada que melhora com o uso constante.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pt
“Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pt
“Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #lang:pt
- #multi-edition
1855· 1 entry
Produced Wolfert's Roost, a collection of stories and essays that he had written for The Knickerbocker and other publications, and he began publishing a biography of his namesake George Washington which he expected to
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1854· 1 entry
To honor Washington Irving, who was living in nearby Sunnyside, which is preserved as a museum
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1848· 1 entry
And appointed by Astor's will as first chairman of the Astor Library, a forerunner to the New York Public Library
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1842· 1 entry
“It will be a severe trial to absent myself for a time from my dear little Sunnyside, but I shall return to it better enabled to carry it on comfortably”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
1841· 1 entry
Irving was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1839· 1 entry
Writing new essays and short stories under the Knickerbocker and Crayon pseudonyms
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1838· 1 entry
"and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation—between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1837· 1 entry
A lady of Charleston, South Carolina brought to the attention of William Clancy, newly appointed bishop to Demerara, a passage in The Crayon Miscellany, and questioned whether it accurately reflected Catholic teaching or
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1835· 2 entries
Irving purchased a "neglected cottage" and its surrounding riverfront property in Tarrytown, New York, which he named Sunnyside in 1841
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Irving, Astor, and a few others founded the Saint Nicholas Society in the City of New York
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1834· 1 entry
Was approached by fur magnate John Jacob Astor, who convinced him to write a history of his fur trading colony in Astoria, Oregon
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1831· 1 entry
To serve as Secretary of Treasury, Irving stayed on as the legation's chargé d'affaires until the arrival of Martin Van Buren, President Andrew Jackson's nominee for ambassador to Britain
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1829· 1 entry
Irving was elected to the American Philosophical Society
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1815· 1 entry
Where he achieved fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1809· 1 entry
Under the Knickerbocker pseudonym, with immediate critical and popular success
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1807· 1 entry
Irving would cover the Burr trial for the newspaper
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1805· 2 entries
“and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Irving struck up a friendship with painter Washington Allston and was almost persuaded into a career as a painter
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1802· 2 entries
With a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
When he was 19, submitting commentaries on the city's social and theater scene under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1783· 1 entry
Born 1783-04-03.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth