Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 - November 28, 1859) was an American author of the early 19th century. Best known for his short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip van Winkle, he was also a prolific essayist, biographer and historian. 
Irving and James Fenimore Cooper were the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving is said to have encouraged authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe.
A resident of Tarrytown, New York, his first book was A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809). After the sudden death of his beloved Matilda Hoffman, Irving became unable to write and spent the next decade attempting various other occupations including service as a staff colonel during the War of 1812.
Some years later he met Sir Walter Scott, who encouraged him to renewed literary effort. The result was The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819-20), a collection of stories and essays including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Except for four years (1842-46) as minister to Spain, Irving spent the remainder of his life at his home, Sunnyside, in Tarrytown, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits. After his death in 1859, Irving was interred in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
