A CO Down novelist who was expected to follow his father into the ministry, but instead chose a life of adventure, is to be honoured today almost 140 years after his death.
An Ulster History blue plaque has been erected in Closkelt to Thomas Mayne Reid, who was a journalist, hunter and author of adventure stories of the American West.
The plaque will be unveiled at Drumgooland Presbyterian Church by Paul Greenfield, lord mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon borough council.
Born in Ballyroney in 1818, he was the eldest son of Rev Thomas Mayne Reid, the Presbyterian Minister who built Drumgooland Presbyterian Church, which opened in 1835.
His father had a long association with the church as he was the grandson of the Rev Mayne Reid who was ordained in 1749 as the first Burgher minister to settle in Ireland.
Expected to follow in his father's footsteps, Reid instead emigrated to America and arrived in 1840 in New Orleans.
His experiences began as a trader and hunter in the unsettled lands of the Red and Missouri rivers. He travelled through nearly every state as an overseer, schoolteacher, actor and the expeditions in Indian warfare, gave him enough material to write his future novels and sketches.
In 1848 in Philadelphia, he settled as a journalist and it was here he met American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, who became a friend.
Reid wrote for journals and magazines until the lure of further adventure called. He became a captain in the US Service and joined the Mexican War, but was severely wounded.
He moved to London and turned his attention to literature, publishing his first novel, The Rifle Rangers in 1850, which was followed by around 75 novels, short stories and sketches including The Scalp Hunters and The Desert Home.
His literary career spanned almost 30 years, producing westerns and children’s adventure stories and became every boy’s favourite author. In his autobiography, US President, Theodore Roosevelt, credited Reid with being a major early inspiration.
Reid died in 1883 and is buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery in London.
Chris Spurr, chairman of the Ulster History Circle said: "Thomas Mayne Reid was a prolific and popular author whose adventure stories of the American West were read throughout Europe and America and influenced many writers including Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Louis Stevenson and Arthur Conan Doyle.
"The Ulster History Circle is delighted to commemorate this novelist and adventurer with a blue plaque in the townland of his birth."