Mortimer Thomson
Mortimer Neal Thomson was an influential American humorist born in 1831 in Riga, New York. He is best known for his witty writings under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks. Thomson attended the University of Michigan, though his time there was cut short due to expulsion for involvement in secret societies. After a period traveling with a theatrical troupe, he gained prominence in 1855 when he joined the New York Tribune, where he wrote against slavery and composed humorous pieces about the legal system. His character Doesticks emerged in 1854, leading to the publication of numerous letters and a successful collection of humorous works titled *Doesticks: What He Says*, which sold thousands of copies shortly after its release. Thomson further contributed to American literature with his parody poem *Plu-ri-bus-tah* and wrote about New York's fortune tellers in *The Witches of New York*. Throughout the Civil War, he served as a war correspondent and continued his literary endeavors until his death in 1875. His later writings reflected a shift towards family and economic issues.
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Mortimer Thomson
Writer
- Born: September 2, 1831
- Birthplace: Riga, New York
- Died: June 25, 1875
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
American humorist Mortimer Neal Thomson, who sometimes used the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks, was born in 1831 in Riga, New York, the older of two sons. When he was a child, his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, but he and several others were expelled for their participation in secret societies on campus. Little is known about Thomson’s life from 1850 to 1855; for part of this time, it is known that he traveled with a theatrical troupe.
In 1855, Thomson was hired by the New York Tribune and his various writings, some of which spoke out against the institution of slavery, attracted widespread attention. He also wrote comic accounts of police-court items. He worked as a war correspondent for the Tribune during the Civil War, and he also served as a chaplain for one of the Union regiments.
Thomson adopted his famous persona, Doesticks, in the summer of 1854 with the publication of the first letter on Niagara Falls called “Doesticks on a Bender.” By the middle of 1855, twenty-nine letters had been published in various newspapers, covering a variety of topics from the burlesque viewpoint of the traveling naïf, Doesticks. A collection of Thomson’s humorous works, Doesticks: What He Says was published in 1855. It is reported that seventy-five hundred copies of Doesticks: What He Says were sold on the first day and sales continued at one thousand per day for some time. By 1857, Rudd and Carleton had thirty-five thousand copies of the book in print. T. B. Peterson, the Philadelphia publisher, republished the book in 1859 and reprinted it as late as 1870.
Thomson’s poem Plu-ri-bus-tah, a parody of Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha, came out in 1856. In trochaic meter, Plu-ri-bus-tah is an allegorical vulgarization of American history. Then, in August, 1857, Thomson became editor of the New York Picayune, a comic paper edited by T. W. Levison, in addition to reporting for the Tribune. Thomson was among the crusading reporters who wrote exposés of local frauds, stories on criminal types, and police court news. Thomson’s book The Witches of New York, which centered on the lives of New York fortune- tellers, was published in 1858. His 1863 antislavery pamphlet “What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation” was Thomson’s last major work and based on reports he had originally published in the Tribune.
Thomson did some reporting during the Civil War, publishing Doesticks letters throughout 1861 and 1862. By the end of the Civil War, Thomson was writing theatrical reviews for the Tribune and contributing regularly to New York Weekly. His style changed significantly in the later years, as he used longer sentences dealing more with the problems of family life and middle-class economic concerns rather than sociopolitical topics. Thomson died in New York City in 1875.