Ingersoll Lockwood (August 2, 1841 – September 30, 1918) was an American lawyer and writer.

He wrote children's novels, including the Baron Trump novels (1889/93), as well as the dystopian novel, 1900: or; The Last President, a play, and several non-fiction works. He wrote some of his non-fiction under the pseudonym Irwin Longman.

Life and legal career

Lockwood was born in Ossining, New York, the son of Munson Ingersoll and Sarah Lewis (née Smith) Lockwood. Munson Lockwood, like his two older brothers, Ralph and Albert, was a lawyer and intimate friend of Henry Clay. However, Munson primarily achieved prominence during his military service and civic activism. He was a general in the New York State Militia and commandant of its 7th Brigade. A great admirer of the Hungarian statesman and freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth, Munson actively raised funds for him in New York. He was also one of the founders of Ossining's first bank and Dale Cemetery and served as the Warden of Sing Sing prison from 1850 to 1855. Lockwood had two brothers, Henry Clay Lockwood and Howard Lockwood.

Like his father and uncles, Ingersoll Lockwood trained as a lawyer, although his first position was as a diplomat. In 1862 he was appointed Consul to the Kingdom of Hanover by Abraham Lincoln. At the time he was the youngest member of the U.S. consular force and served in that post for four years. On his return he established a legal practice in New York City with his older brother Henry.

By the 1880s Lockwood had established a parallel career as a lecturer and writer. In 1884, he married Winifred Wallace Tinker, a graduate of Vassar College and aspiring author. They were divorced in 1892. That same year she married Edward R. Johnes, a lawyer by profession and a literateur by avocation[a] He was described in Current Literature as Winifred's "kind and most sympathetic literary advisor."

Lockwood spent his retirement years as a recluse in Saratoga Springs, New York where he published his last book, a collection of poetry entitled In Varying Mood, or, Jetsam, Flotsam and Ligan in 1912. It opens with juxtaposed photographs of Lockwood at age 35 and at age 70. In the preface, he wrote:

The end has almost come. I'm only waiting for the signal to push off and begin my voyage to the Isles of the Blest in the far Western Seas. I was troubled in my mind at first, for my little bark, staunch though it may be, sat too deep in the water. It was overladen with conceits that wouldn't be current and merchandise that wouldn't be saleable in the Isles of the Blest. Overboard with it! Now that I have lightened ship I feel better.

Lockwood died in Saratoga Springs five years later, in 1918, at the age of 77. He had no children or surviving relatives.

Notes

1. ^ Edward Rodolph Johnes (1852–1903) specialised in corporate and business law. He wrote a number of pamphlets on legal issues and also published a book of poetry, Briefs by a Barrister, in 1879. After their marriage, Winifred Tinker Johnes published several short stories and two novels, Miss Gwynne, Bachelor (1894) and Memoirs of a Little Girl (1896).

The Baron Trump novels are two children's novels written in 1889 and 1893 by American author and lawyer Ingersoll Lockwood.

They remained obscure until 2017, when they received media attention for perceived similarities between their protagonist and U.S. President Donald Trump.

19th century publication and reception

Lockwood published the first novel, Travels and adventures of Little Baron Trump and his wonderful dog Bulger, in 1889, and its sequel, Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey, in 1893. The novels recount the adventures of the German boy Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp, who goes by "Baron Trump", as he discovers weird underground civilizations, offends the natives, flees from his entanglements with local women, and repeats this pattern until arriving back home at Castle Trump.

The novels were part of a trend in U.S. children's literature that responded to the demand for fantastic adventure stories triggered by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). They were, however, indifferently received and did not enter the canon of children's literature. An 1891 reviewer wrote about one of Lockwood's novels: "The author labors through three hundred pages of fantastic and grotesque narrative, now and then striking a spark of wit; but the sparks emit little light and no warmth, and one has to fumble for the story."

Rediscovery in 2017

In July 2017, the books were rediscovered by Internet forum users, and then by the media, who pointed out similarities between the protagonist and then U.S. President Donald Trump.

Jaime Fuller wrote in Politico that Baron Trump is "precocious, restless, and prone to get in trouble." He often mentions his massive brain, and has a personalized insult for most people he meets. Fuller also notes that Baron Trump lives in a building named after himself, "Castle Trump"; while the real-life Donald Trump had lived in Trump Tower for decades. Furthermore, Donald Trump's youngest son's name is Barron Trump, and Donald Trump used the pseudonym "John Barron" in the 1980s. 

Chris Riotta noted in Newsweek that Baron Trump's adventures begin in Russia. Riotta also mentioned another book of Lockwood's, 1900; or, The Last President, in which New York City is riven by protests following the shocking victory in the 1896 presidential election of a populist candidate who brings on the downfall of the American republic.