CARLETON, WILL (WILLIAM MCKENDREE) American poet, was born in Hudson, Lenawee county, Mich., on Oct. 12, 1845. After graduating at Hillsdale college in 1869 he made extensive lecture tours through the Western States, Canada and Great Britain. He then engaged in editorial work for local Michigan papers, and in Jan. 1872 became editor of the Detroit Weekly Tribune. From 1873-78, he was editor of the Detroit Tribune. He had early shown a taste for poetry, and his "Betsey and I Are Out" (18 71) won for him immediate recog nition. For many years he was a frequent contributor to Harper's Weekly. In 1883 he published City Ballads. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Dec. 18, 1912.
His published works include: Farm Ballads (1873) ; Farm Legends (1876) ; City Ballads (1883) ; City Legends (i8go) ; City Festivals (1892) ; Songs of Two Centuries (1 9o2) ; Poems for Young Americans (1906) ; A Thousand More Verses (1912) ; Over the Hill to the Poor House (i927).
See A. E. Corning, Will Carleton; A Biographical Sketch (1917).