Edward Payson Roe

Edward Payson Roe (1838-1888) was educated at Williams College and Auburn Theological Seminary. He was chaplain of the Second New York Cavalry, U.S.V. and of Hampton Hospital during the Civil War, during which time he submitted weekly dispatches to the New York Evangelist. He served as pastor at Highland Falls, New York after the war, and in 1874 devoted himself to writing and horticulture.[Wikipedia: Edward Roe]

“Roe first turned to a literary career after the Chicago fire of 1871. Deeply moved by the tragedy, he visited Chicago and penned his first novel, Barriers Burned Away, which proved a tremendous success. Rev. Roe died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty after an evening reading aloud to his family."[Monte Wilson]

His books include:

  • Miss Lou (unfinished)
  • An Original Belle
  • A Young Girl’s Wooing
  • The Earth Trembled
  • A Knight of the 19th Century
  • A Day of Fate
  • Opening a Chestnut Burr
  • Barriers Burned Away
  • He Fell in Love with His Wife
  • A Face Illumined
  • From Jest to Earnest
He Fell In Love With His Wife: a novel by Edward Roe
He Fell In Love With His Wife: a novel by Edward Roe

This book was inspired by a newspaper account telling of a widowed farmer who visited the county poor house, looking for a good housekeeper. He is supposed to have said, “If there is a worthy woman here, I will marry her.”

7 Nov 2025

An Original Belle by Edward Roe
An Original Belle by Edward Roe

“Roe first turned to a literary career after the Chicago fire of 1871. Deeply moved by the tragedy, he visited Chicago and penned his first novel, Barriers Burned Away, which proved a tremendous success. Rev. Roe died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty after an evening reading aloud to his family."[Monte Wilson]

30 Jul 2025

His Somber Rivals by Edward Roe
His Somber Rivals by Edward Roe

“The following story has been taking form in my mind for several years, and at last I have been able to write it out… At this distance from the late Civil War, it is time that passion and prejudice sank below the horizon.

13 Jan 2020

Without a Home by Edward Roe
Without a Home by Edward Roe

“That man is an opium-eater,” he said in a low tone, and his explanation of the effects of the drug was a diagnosis of Mr. Jocelyn’s symptoms and appearance. The firm’s sympathy for a man seemingly in poor health was transformed into disgust and antipathy, since there is less popular toleration of this weakness than of drinking habits. The very obscurity in which the vice is involved makes it seem all the more unnatural and repulsive, and it must be admitted that the fullest knowledge tends only to increase this horror and repugnance, even though pity is awakened for the wretched victim.

16 Dec 2019

The Earth Trembled by Edward Payson Roe
The Earth Trembled by Edward Payson Roe

The Charleston Earthquake of August 31, 1886 (8.6 on the Richter scale) was strong enough to be felt in Boston, Chicago, New Orleans and Milwaukee. It caused speculation that Florida had broken off the continent. [Wikipedia: 1886 Charleston earthquake] Roe’s novel explores its effects in the context of the relations between North and South after the American Civil War.

18 Nov 2019

A Day of Fate by Edward Payson Roe
A Day of Fate by Edward Payson Roe

"It is a love story, pure and simple, of the type that belongs to no age or clime or school, because it is the story of the love that has been common to humanity, wherever it has been lifted above the level of the brutes." — New York Observer

14 Oct 2019

A Face Illumined by Edward Payson Roe
A Face Illumined by Edward Payson Roe

"A Face Illumined is one of E.P. Roe's best novels in my opinion. I loved his thoughts on inner beauty. –eleniel "The author does not, as is often the case, make the moral design an excuse for literary shortcomings. His characters are stamped with a strong individuality, and depicted with a naturalness that indicates a keen student of human nature and modern life." — Boston Traveller

7 Oct 2019

A Knight of the Century by Edward Payson Roe
A Knight of the Century by Edward Payson Roe

“It is a book which those who begin will be pretty sure to finish, deriving from it a new impulse to the truest knighthood.” — Harper’s Magazine. “The whole tone of the work is manly and healthful. It is thoroughly noble in all its teachings and tendencies.” — Utica Herald.

30 Sep 2019

From Jest to Earnest by Edward Payson Roe
From Jest to Earnest by Edward Payson Roe

"He vindicates his right to use the talent which God has given him for the instruction and interest of the thousands who read his works." — New York Evangelist. "The hero is simple, strong, and manly; much such a man as Mr. Lincoln must have been had he turned his attention to theology instead of politics." — New York World.

23 Sep 2019

Opening a Chestnut Burr by Edward Payson Roe
Opening a Chestnut Burr by Edward Payson Roe

“The character of the selfish, morbid, cynical hero, and his gradual transformation under the influence of the sweet and high-spirited heroine, are portrayed with a masculine firmness, which is near akin to power, and some of the conversations are animated and admirable.” — Atlantic Monthly

16 Sep 2019