Jacques Futrelle was a pioneer detective story writer. He grew up in Atlanta. He was the son of Wiley Harmon Futrelle, a Confederate veteran, who taught in one of the preparatory colleges in Atlanta. On July 17, 1895 Futrelle married Lily May Peel (she was always known as May) also of Atlanta. The Futrelles left Atlanta and moved first to New York City where Futrelle briefly worked for the New York Herald, and then to Scituate, Massachusetts. During this time Futrelle started to write a mystery detective story featuring Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, aka The Thinking Machine. In 1902 Futrelle received an offer to manage a small repertory theater in Richmond, Virginia. He also wrote and acted in several plays at theaters in Baltimore, Maryland and Knoxville, Tennessee. May Futrelle collaborated with her husband on several of these plays. Despite Futrelle's success in the theatrical world, he and May decided it was not for them and at the end of two years they moved back to Scituate. The Futrelles continued to have an interest in the theater and wrote several more plays. In 1904 Futrelle found work on the editorial staff at the new newspaper the Boston American. in 1905 the first Thinking Machine story "The Problem of Cell 12" was published in installments in the Boston American. It was such a success that Futrelle was asked to submitt more stories. Futrelle wrote several more Thinking Machine stories as well as several humorous sketches. May Futrelle also continued to write. In 1912 Jacques and May Futrelle went on a trip to Europe. They sailed home on the Titanic. Jacques Futrelle went down with the ship. May Futrelle survived. May Futrelle continued to live in Scituate until her death in 1967. (Adapted from article in Box 1, folder 13)