John Gould

Who was John Gould?

John Thomas Gould was an American humorist, essayist, and columnist who wrote a column for the Christian Science Monitor for over sixty years from a farm in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He was published in most major American newspapers and magazines and wrote thirty books.

Gould was born in Brighton, Massachusetts to Franklin Farrar Gould and Hilda Dobson Jenkins. After his birth the family moved to Medford, Massachusetts. When Gould was ten years old his family, which then included three children, moved to Freeport, Maine. Gould was responsible for farm chores before and after school, but his father stressed the importance of his education. His family subscribed to The Youth's Companion, the Rural New Yorker and The Boston Post, all of which published materials submitted by the young writer.

In 1924, while Gould was a sophomore in high school, he offered to be a reporter for the Brunswick Record, and following an encouraging reply from the editor, began submitting news items and was thus gainfully employed with the Record until 1940. He was also writing as a stringer for other newspapers and as a result became a featured writer for the Boston Sunday Post.