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Who was Henry David Thoreau’s brother John?
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Henry David Thoreau
American essayist, poet, and Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.
John Thoreau was the brother of the American writer Henry David Thoreau. John played an active role in Henry’s early professional life, helping him start a small, progressive school in Concord in June 1838. The brothers also shared a significant experience in 1839 when they took a canoe trip along the Concord and Merrimack rivers, an excursion that helped confirm Henry’s ambition to become a poet of nature.12
John’s life was cut short in January 1842, when he died of tetanus after cutting his finger. His death caused Henry deep grief, which contributed to a period of restlessness in the writer's life.2