Sam Walter Foss

• Name — Sam Walter Foss • Born — 19 June 1858 • Birthplace — Candia, New Hampshire • Died — 26 February 1911 • Place of death — Boston, Massachusetts • Resting Place — Providence, Rhode Island • Occupation — Librarian, poet • Notable Works — "The Coming American", "The House by the Side of the Road" • Education — Tilton School Brown University

• Illustration — Birthplace of Sam Foss in Candia, New Hampshire Foss was born in rural Candia, New Hampshire, the son of Polly (Hardy) and Dyer Foss. His mother died when he was four years old, and he worked on his father's farm and went to school in the winter. Foss attended the Tilton Seminary, now Tilton School, before attending and graduating from Brown University in 1882. He would eventually be considered illustrious enough to warrant having his name inscribed on the mace. Beginning in 1898, Foss served as librarian at the Somerville Public Library in Massachusetts. He married a minister's daughter, with whom he had a daughter and son. Foss used to write a poem a day for the newspapers, and his five volumes of collected poetry are of the frank and homely “common man” variety. Foss is buried in the North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island. He is featured on a New Hampshire historical marker (number 114) along New Hampshire Route 43 in Candia. The house that Foss resided in during his time at Tilton Seminary was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, as "House by the Side of the Road". Which house Foss had in mind when he wrote the like-named poem—in Candia during his childhood or in Tilton during his education—has been a matter of some dispute.

• Back Country Poems (1892) • Whiffs from Wild Meadows (1895) • Dreams in Homespun (1897) • Songs of War and Peace (1899) • The Song of the Library Staff "Read at the annual meeting of the American Library Association, Narragansett Pier, July 6, 1906" (Published separately (details needed), but also included in 'Songs of the Average Man'(1906) • Songs of the Average Man (1907)