American journalist, born in Erwith, Westphalia, Prussia, on the 31st of August 1830. When five years old he accompanied his parents to the United States, and was educated at Cincinnati. In 1844 Nordhoff entered the United States navy. He served three years, making a voyage around the world, remained at sea in the merchant, whaling and mackerel-fishery service until 1853, when he became employed in newspaper offices, first at Philadelphia, and afterward in Indianapolis, IN. From 1861 to 1871 he was on the editorial staff of the New York Evening Post. Then he traveled in California and the Hawaiian Islands from 1871 to 1873. After that he removed to Washington, DC, where he became special correspondent for the New York Herald. He published Man-of-War Life (1855); The Merchant Vessel (1855); Whaling and Fishing (1856); Stories of the Island World (1857); Nine Years a Sailor (1857); Secession is Rebellion (1860); The Freedom of South Carolina (1863); America for Free Working Man (1865); Cape Cod and all Along the Shore (1868); California: A Book for Travelers (1872); Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Islands (1874); Politics for Young Americans (1875); The Cotton States in 1875 (1876); God and the Future Life (1881).
