Edmonds, Walter Dumaux (1903-1998), an American author, became known for his novel Drums Along the Mohawk (1936), and other books on the history of upstate New York. He won the Newbery Medal in 1942 for his story for young people, The Matchlock Gun (1941). His Bert Breen’s Barn (1975) won the 1976 National Book Award for children’s literature.
Edmonds was born on July 15, 1903, on a farm near Boonville, New York. Boonville lies near the old Erie Canal, which served as the setting for his first novel, Rome Haul (1929). This novel was adapted into a play, The Farmer Takes a Wife (1934), by Marc Connelly and Frank Elser. Edmonds’s other fiction includes The Big Barn (1930), Erie Water (1933), Chad Hanna (1940), The Wedding Journey (1947), and The Night Raider and Other Stories (1980). Edmonds died on Jan. 24, 1998.
