There isn’t a bio on the Web for author W. Dayton Wegefarth, so I’ve done some research and pieced together a little something from various sources.
William Dayton Wegefarth was born 1885 September 10th in New York to Gustavus Wegefarth and Rebecca Janet Cox. In 1919, he married Estelle Buxbaum (1882–1950) in Philadelphia.
Mr Wegefarth wrote for newspapers and magazines and was quite successful as a writer of verses for greeting cards. He also worked in the theatrical field, at theatres in Philadelphia and New York. He wrote lyrics and music as well as managing bookings.
His published books: Smiles and Sighs — 1910, poems; The True Story of “Bum” — 1915, short story about a stray dog he adopted; and Rainbow Verse — 1919, inspirational poetry. As with many writers of the day, the book verses were mostly reprinted items from periodicals, such as Lippincott’s Magazine.
He published under his real name as well as a pseudonym, Hugh Barrington. His name variations were:
He passed away 1973, in New York.
I’ve got a few dozen excerpts from this cheerful author’s public domain works posted to various pages of The Quote Garden.
Sources: The Book News Monthly, Google Books, Internet Archive, Carrie
Images: Book News Monthly, 1914 & 1915, and Rainbow Verse, 1919, scanned by Google Books, modified t.g.; letter to Joseph McGarrity, 1916, courtesy National Library of Ireland
