American novelist/poet Meredith Nicholson was born John Ramsay Allardyce Nicholson on June 28, 1894, in Crawfordsvlle, Indiana. After graduating from high school he took a variety of jobs, including court reporter, At 16 he had his first poems published in a few weekly journals, and not long afterwards became a published author when he received $5 for a short story he submitted to the "Chicgo Tribune" newspaper.
While working in Colorado as treasurer for a mining company, Nicholson wrote an historical study, "The Hoosiers" (1900). In 1905 he wrote what is probably his best-known novel, "The House of a Thousand Candles", which was later made into several films. He was a prolific author, but none of his novels was as successful as "The House of a Thousand Candles".
Children: Elizabeth Kountze Nicholson (Mrs. Austin H. Brown), Eugenie Nicholson (died in infancy), Meredith Nicholson, Jr. and Charles Lionel Nicholson.