The Author Washington Irving Washington Irving was born in New York City in 1783 to Scottish-English immigrant parents and was named after the hero of the American Revolution and first president of the United States, George Washington. Irving s family belonged to the merchant class of the period. Many of his older brothers became successful merchants too and encouraged their younger brother s literary aspirations, supporting him financially as he followed his writing career. In 1798 an epidemic of yellow fever1 forced his parents to send him to a healthier2 place, so Irving went to stay with family friends in Tarryton, New York, on the Hudson River. There, he became familiar with the nearby town of Sleepy Hollow, with its strange Dutch3 customs and local ghost stories. Later, he often went back to the region and fell in love with its mysterious and romantic landscape, so he decided to make it the background for some of his future stories. At 19, he started writing letters to the Morning Chronicle, sending commentaries and observations on New York s social and theatrical scene. They were very successful and he was soon asked to write for a literary magazine in Philadelphia. At 25, he became famous for his comic work, A History of New York, written under the name of Diedrich Knickerboker . This became the nickname for Manhattan residents in general and is still used today. Irving also made popular the nickname Gotham for New York City, later used in Batman comics and movies. In 1815 Irving went to England and wrote a collection of short stories and essays that became The Sketch Book (published under the 1. yellow fever: acute viral disease. 2. healthier: safer, with less risk of contracting diseases. 3. Dutch: referring to the Netherlands. 4