HAPPY THE LIFE OF A BEE

Walter Flavius McCaleb, historian, novelist, poet, and banker, was born in Denton, Texas, on October 17, 1873, to John Lafayette and Elizabeth (Sweeten) McCaleb. His father was a banker and newspaper publisher in Carrizo Springs. After attending San Antonio Academy, McCaleb enrolled at the University of Texas, where he received a B.A. in literature in 1896 and an M.A. in 1897. He accepted a fellowship to attend the University of Chicago, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in history in 1900. He worked as a freelance writer in New York City from 1901 to 1903; he had begun writing at age nine for his fathers newspaper in Carrizo Springs. During his New York years he served as an editor on the staff of the New International Encyclopedia and wrote book reviews for the New York Times, the Nation, and the American Historical Review. His first and perhaps best-known book, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy (1903), was based on research he had done in Mexico in 1898. He maintained a lifelong interest in Burr, and his New Light on Aaron Burr was published in 1963.