Henry Morford

Henry Morford (March 10, 1823 – August 4, 1881) was an American writer, editor, and newspaperman. Originally a local businessman and postmaster of his native New Monmouth, New Jersey, he wrote poetry while on break from work and published three poetry volumes: The Rest of Don Juan, The Rhymes of Twenty Years (1859), and Rhymes of an Editor (1873). He wrote several novels, plays, and travel books, including a sequel to Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He owned the Democratic Banner and New Jersey Standard (founding the latter), and was editor of the New York Leader, Morford's Magazine, and Brooklyn New Monthly Magazine.

Biography Early life and career Morford was born on March 10, 1823, in Chanceville, a community located in the present-day New Monmouth section of Middletown Township, New Jersey. while Thomas H. Leonard called Morford "a very literary turn of mind" in his 1923 book From Indian Trail to Electric Rail.

Regarding The Rest of Don Juan, Hollis attributed Morford's interest in Don Juan (and also Byron in general) to "a morbid fascination with the poet’s theme of fatalism and the youthful death of Byron."

In June 2023, the Middletown Township Historical Society and Middletown Township Public Library held a celebration of Morford's 200th birthday, with several Monmouth University students in attendance.