Among the authors who surrounded Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor of The Knickerbocker Magazine during much of that magazine's distinguished life, was the businessman Richard Burleigh Kimball, who wrote stories, sketches, and essays for literary periodicals from the 1840s until the 1890s. His most celebrated work was the metaphysical novel Saint Leger; or, The Threads of Life (1849), which reflects the impact of German philosophic ideas. A lawyer and financier comfortable with Wall Street and its environs, Kimball explored these settings in a series of novels published after the success of Saint Leger.

Born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, on 11 October 1816, he was the youngest child of Richard Kimball and Mary Marsh Kimball. Descended from Richard Kimball of Suffolk County, England, who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1634, Richard Burleigh Kimball was proud of his British ancestry. His family's role in American history was also a source of pride--his uncle had served in...