Harte moved to California in 1853, later working there in a number of capacities, including miner, teacher, messenger, and journalist. His formal schooling ended when he was 13, in 1849. As an adult, he recalled to a friend, “Such a shock was their ridicule to me that I wonder that I ever wrote another line of verse”. Rather than attracting praise, the poem garnered ridicule from his family. Later, Francis preferred to be known by his middle name, but he spelled it with only one “t”, becoming Bret Harte.Īn avid reader as a boy, Harte published his first work at age 11, a satirical poem titled “Autumn Musings”, now lost. Henry’s father was Bernard Hart, an Orthodox Jewish immigrant who flourished as a merchant, becoming one of the founders of the New York Stock Exchange. When he was young, his father, Henry, changed the spelling of the family name from Hart to Harte. He was named Francis Brett Hart after his great-grandfather, Francis Brett. Biography Early lifeīret Harte was born in Albany, New York. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales have been most often reprinted, adapted, and admired. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S.
In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. Francis Bret Harte (Aug– May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush.