Wirt Sikes

William Wirt Sikes (1836-1883), was a journalist novelist, and career diplomat from Watertown, New York. After teaching himself typesetting and journalism, he worked for a number of local newspapers and published his first set of poems of tales in 1858. Moving to Chicago, he worked on the Chicago Evening Journal, before relocating to New York City in 1865, there writing for Harpers New Monthly Magazine, the Youth's Companion, Oliver Optic's Magazine, and the New York Sun. Three years later he became editor of the Nyack City and Country before being appointed as U.S. consul at Cardiff, Wales, in June 1876. He spent the rest of his life in Wales, where he achieved his greatest fame with his retelling of the myths and legends of that land.