Well, at least those we think we may be related to. According to my dad, Madeline Bacheller Downie held that we were related to author Addison Irving Bacheller. I wrote to my Great Aunt Nedra, 2nd wife of Herbert Worden Bacheller, because she had many genealogy books on the Bachellers and she wrote back: "Dear alan, Irving Bacheller was a distant cousin of your grandfathers. I think John Bacheller about 4 generations from Josuha, was married twice. Your grandfather came from the first marriage and Irving from the second, I think his ancestor was Theophilous. but I'm not sure. I have to go back thru and look it up. His father was Paul Bacheller."
As of yet, I haven't had the fortitude to go back and prove this through genealogy research, but that's the fun of genealogy - having brick walls to scale. Suffice it to say he is a distant cousin of our direct Bacheller line. I do have the line back to Joshua, born 1640 in England. I acquired several of Irving's books on ebay and have thouroughly enjoyed his writing. Most of his works take place in New York State and New England.
A good biography is here: http://www.online-literature.com/irving-bacheller/
He was fairly well known. Among his acheivements he founded the first modern newspaper syndicate in the United States, pioneering the idea. It was through the Bacheller Syndicate that he brought to American readers the writings of British authors such as Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling. He served as a war correspondent in France during World War I. Writing novels primarily concerned with early American life in the North Country of New York State, in 1900 his novel "Eben Holden," subtitled A Tale of the North Country, proved a major success. According to the New York Times, "Eben Holden" was the 4th bestselling novel in the United States in 1900. In 1901 the book was still ranked fifth for the year and his next novel issued that year titled "D'ri and I" was 10th in annual sales. Sixteen years later, Bacheller's work "The Light in the Clearing" was the No.2 best-selling book in America and in 1920, "A Man for the Ages" was fifth.
In later years, he served on the board of trustees of both St. Lawrence University and Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida where he built a home, called Gate o' the Isles, and spent his winters from 1919 through 1940. To find the riddle behind this name, read his book "Darryl of the Blessed Isles" - a really humorous and engaging read.
St. Lawrence's Gunninson Memorial Chapel bells are named "The Bacheller Memorial Chimes" in his honor. Additionally, the St Lawrence English department's honorary society is named for him("The Irving Bacheller Society") , and one of the dining halls bears the name "Eben Holden."
http://www.stlawu.edu/chapel/chimes/facts.htm
Bacheller played a key role in the development of Rollins College when, in 1925, he was named head of a search committee to find a new president for the school. He remembered a magazine editor he had known and admired in New York, Hamilton Holt, and he wrote to Holt offering him the job saying, "It's a cinch for a man of your capacity." Holt took the job and changed the face of Rollins College, with the help of Bachellor, from a tiny school with very little money, to a school with a multimillion dollar endowment and a beautiful, thriving campus. In 1940, with Holt still president, Rollins College announced the creation of a professorship of creative writing in Irving Bacheller's name.
Access an audio version of "Eben Holden" here:
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