Talk:Jesse Merwin

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group.

New York (state)

	New York (state) portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject New York (state), a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of New York on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.New York (state)Wikipedia:WikiProject New York (state)Template:WikiProject New York (state)New York (state) articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Contested deletion[edit]

This article should not be speedily deleted for lack of asserted importance because... (The New York Folklore Society has awarded an Historical "Legends and Lore" marker with Jesse Merwin's name on it to go at the Kinderhook schoolhouse he taught in, as he was the known inspiration for the character of Ichabod Crane in Washington Irving's story, Legend of Sleepy Hollow) --Vaaltje (talk) 23:07, 5 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

According to a notation by Irving and a certification written in long hand script by Martin Van Buren, the 'pattern' (Van Buren's words) for the character of Ichabod Crane was based on the original Kinderhook schoolmaster named Jesse Merwin, whom Irving became friends with in Kinderhook, New York, in 1809. The author lived in the village for about eight weeks that year, after the death of his fiancée; he wrote portions of A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty in Kinderhook[19] The two friends continued a pen-pal correspondence for thirty years. The Columbia County Historical Society (New York) owns the original Kinderhook Schoolhouse named after the Irving character based on Jesse Merwin, the town's first schoolteacher. The Kinderhook town school district (Ichabod Crane Central School District) is also named for the Irving character.

The NY Folklore Society 'Legends and Lore' marker states "Washington Irving Based the character of Ichabod Crane in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the Kinderhook Schoolteacher, Jesse Merwin " and has been awarded to the Kinderhook schoolhouse. The historical marker dedication will be in a ceremony on June 17th, 2017 as a featured part of New York State's annual Path Through History.