Owen McMahon Johnson was an American writer best remembered for his stories and novels cataloguing the educational and personal growth of the fictional character Dink Stover.
The "Lawrenceville Stories" (The Prodigious Hickey, The Tennessee Shad, The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, The Hummingbird), set in the well-known prep school, invite comparison with Kipling's

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

 Stalky and Co. A 1987 PBS mini-series was based on them.

Biography

He was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of Robert Underwood Johnson

Robert Underwood Johnson

Robert Underwood Johnson was a U.S. writer and diplomat. His wife was Katharine Johnson.-Biography:A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson joined the staff of The Century Magazine in 1873...

 and his wife Katherine, née McMahon, and attended Lawrenceville School

Lawrenceville School

The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....

, founding and editing the Lawrenceville Literary Magazine, known as The Lit. He attended Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, as a member of the Class of 1900, graduating in 1901, marrying Mary Galt Stockly and moving to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he did his initial writing. He was a war correspondent for the New York Times and Collier's during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

His first wife died in 1910. His second wife was Esther Ellen Cobb

Cobina Wright

Cobina Wright was an American opera singer and actress who appeared in The Razor's Edge . She gained later fame as a hostess and a syndicated gossip columnist...

 (better known as Cobina Wright Jr.), whom he married in 1912 and divorced in 1917. His third wife was Cecile Denise de la Garde, who died in 1918. His fourth wife was Catherine Sayre Burton, who died in 1923. His fifth wife was Gertrude Bovee Le Boutillier. He was the father of five children.

Johnson worked and resided in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...

 from 1923 to 1948, writing about marriage, divorce, and golf. After 1931, his writing activities became less intense, and he became interested in politics, running (unsuccessfully) for the House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 in 1936 and 1938.

He died at his home in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts

Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts

Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place by the U.S...

, where he had lived for five years.

Writings

• Arrows of the Almighty - 1901
• In the Name of Liberty- 1905
• Max Fargus - 1905
• The Prodigious Hickey - 1908
• The Eternal Boy - 1909
• The Humming Bird - 1910 (also one of the 'Lawrenceville' stories)
• The Varmint - 1910
• The Tennessee Shad - 1911
• Stover at Yale
  Stover at Yale
  Stover at Yale, by Owen Johnson is a novel describing undergraduate life at Yale at the turn of the 20th century. The book was described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as the "textbook of his generation"...
  
  - 1911
• Murder in Any Degree - 1913 (stories)
• The Sixty-first Second - 1913 (a novel concerning the Panic of 1907
  Panic of 1907
  The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...
  
  )
• The Salamander - 1913
• Making Money - 1915
• The Woman Gives - 1915
• The Spirit of France - 1916 (nonfiction)
• Virtuous Wives - 1918
• The Wasted Generation- 1921
• Skippy Bedelle - 1922 (also one of the 'Lawrenceville' stories)
• Blue Blood - 1923
• Children of Divorce - 1927
• Sacrifice - 1929
• The Coming of the Amazons - 1931