Elijah Kellogg, Jr. was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Congregationalist

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 minister, lecturer

Public lecture

A public lecture is one means employed for educating the public in the sciences and medicine. The Royal Institution has a long history of public lectures and demonstrations given by prominent experts in the field...

 and author of popular boy's adventure books

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

.

Professional life

Born in Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

, Kellogg was the son of a minister and missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to local Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

. He was graduated from Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

 in 1840 and Andover Theological Seminary. Kellogg served as a minister of the church in Harpswell, Maine

Harpswell, Maine

Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, which is geographically within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,239 at the 2000 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswell Neck, as well as several large and small...

 from 1844-54, as chaplain of the Boston Seaman's Friends Society and pastor of the Mariners' Church of Boston from 1855-1865; and ended his life as minister of the church in Topsham, Maine from 1871 until his death in 1901.

Writing

Kellogg began writing children's books in the 1860s, and was highly productive. While he is best known to students of rhetoric as the author of the once-popular monolog

Monolog

This article is about the British telephone device. See monologue for the other definition.A Monolog is a Single Telephone Line Call Logging Device manufactured by British Telecom in the UK...

 "Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua

Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua

Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua is a rhetorical monologue written by Elijah Kellogg for a student competition at Bowdoin College in 1842, and later published by Epes Sargent, one of the judges, in his 1846 School Reader...

" (written for a student competition while he was still an undergraduate at Bowdoin), he later produced several series of books. These include:

Elm Island Series

• Lion Ben of Elm Island (1868)
• Charlie Bell: The Waif of Elm Island (1868, copyright renewed 1896)
• The Ark of Elm Island (1868)
• The Boy Farmers of Elm Island (1869)
• The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island (1870)
• The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island (1870)

Pleasant Cove Series

• Arthur Brown: The Young Captain (1870)
• The Young Deliverers of Pleasant Cove (1871)
• The Cruise of the Casco (1871)
• The Child of the Island Glen (1872)
• John Godsoe's Legacy (1873)
• The Fisher Boys of Pleasant Cove (1874)

Whispering Pine Series

(set at Bowdoin College, his alma mater, of which his father was later a trustee)

• The Spark of Genius; or, The College Life of James Trafton (1871)
• The Sophomores of Radcliffe; or, James Trafton and His Bosom Friends (1871)
• The Whispering Pine; or, the Graduates of Radcliffe Hall (1872)
• Winning His Spurs; or, Henry Morton's First Trial (1872)
• The Turning of the Tide; or, Radcliffe Rich and His Patients (1873)
• A Stout Heart; or, the Student From Over the Sea (1873)

Forest Glen Series

• Saved By the Wind; or, The Poor Boy's Future (1874)
• Wolf Run; or, the Boys of the Wilderness (1875)
• Brought to the Front; or, The Young Defenders (1875)
• The Mission of Black Rifle; or, On the Trail (1876)
• Forest Glen; or, the Mohawk's Friendship (1877)
• Burying the Hatchet; or, the Young Brave of the Delawares (1878)

Good Old Times Series

• Good Old Times; or, Grandfather's Struggle for a Homestead (1877, rev. 1905)
• A Strong Arm and a Mother's Blessing (1880)
• The Unseen Hand; or, James Renfew and His Boy Helpers (1881)
• The Live Oak Boys; or, The Adventures of Richard Constable Afloat and Shore (1882)

Family and heritage

Kellogg married Hannah Pearson Pomeroy and had three sons and one daughter. Wilmot B. Mitchell of Bowdoin edited Elijah Kellogg, The Man And His Work: Chapters From His Life And Selections From His Writings (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1903). Bowdoin College offers an online collection guide to Kellogg's personal papers and those of his father (who was a trustee of Bowdoin). Elijah Kellogg Church, Congregational in Harpswell, Maine

Harpswell, Maine

Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, which is geographically within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,239 at the 2000 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswell Neck, as well as several large and small...

(where he served as pastor) is now named for him.