William Davis Gallagher, poet and critic, was born at Philadelphia,
August 21, 1808. When he was but eight years old he removed to
Cincinnati with his mother, a widow. In 1821 he was apprenticed to a
Cincinnati printer. At the age of twenty years Gallagher journeyed
through Kentucky and Mississippi, and his letters concerning the
country and the people won him his first fame as a writer. In 1831 he
became editor of the Cincinnati _Mirrow_, the fifth or sixth literary
journal published in the West. Three years later Thomas H. Shreve
joined Gallagher in editing the paper. Like all Western magazines,
the _Mirrow's_ high hopes were utterly dashed upon the old rocks of
failure from one cause or another. In 1835 Gallagher published _Erato
No. I._, and _Erato No. II._, which were two small pamphlets of poems.
_Erato No. III._ was published at Louisville, two years later. The
chief poem in this was upon a Kentucky subject. Gallagher's anthology
of Western verse, without biographical or critical notes, entitled
_The Poetical Literature of the West_ (Cincinnati, 1841), the first
work in that field, was well done, and it strengthened his claim as a
critic. In 1854 he became one of the editors of the _Louisville
Courier_; but he shortly afterwards purchased a farm near Pewee
Valley, Kentucky, some twelve miles from Louisville, and as a Kentucky
farmer he spent the final forty years of his life. He took keen
interest in agricultural pursuits, but he made nothing more than a
meager living out of his farm. His essay on _Fruit Culture in the Ohio
Valley_ attracted the attention of persons interested in that subject.
As a poet Gallagher submits his claim upon a rather long pastoral
poem, entitled _Miami Woods_. This work was begun in 1839, and
finished seventeen years later. This gives the title of his book of
poems, _Miami Woods, A Golden Wedding, and Other Poems_ (Cincinnati,
1881). _A Golden Wedding_ is not an overly skillful production, and
the poet is best seen in his shorter lyrics. Perhaps _The Mothers of
the West_, which appeared in the _Erato No. III._, is the best thing
he did, and the one poem that will keep his fame green. Gallagher
began his literary career with great promise, and he pursued it
diligently for some years, but when he should have been doing his
finest work, he was winning some prize from an agricultural journal
for the best essay on _Fruit Culture in the Ohio Valley_! He failed to
follow the gleam. William D. Gallagher died at "Fern Rock Cottage,"
Pewee Valley, Kentucky, June 27, 1894.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _Poets and Poetry of the West_, by W. T. Coggeshall
(Columbus, Ohio, 1860); _Blades o' Bluegrass_, by Fannie P. Dickey
(Louisville, 1892).