Journalist, Author, Inventor, Historian. Served as secretary to President Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864. Born in Homer, Cortland County, New York, he graduated from the University of Rochester in 1858. He then became an editor for the "Daily Ledger" in Chicago, but left Chicago the same year to become the editor for the "Central Illinois Gazette" in Champaign, Illinois. He was an abolitionist and worked with the Republican party during the 1860 Presidential campaign. On July 15, 1861 he was appointed to sign land patents for the Interior Department. During the Civil War however, not many land patents were coming through and he was told to report to the White House to help the other secretaries with their overflow. He was assigned to Mary Todd Lincoln to open and screen all her letters. William Stoddard also served as a member of the voluntary special police during the Civil War draft riots. He penned the first copies of the Emancipation Proclamation from Abraham Lincoln?s notes. After the war, he was appointed United States Marshal in Arkansas in 1864 and served until 1866. He also invented equpment for publishing and held several patents. He wrote numerous books for adults and children, including, "Life of Lincoln," "Talking-Leaves," "Among the Lakes," "Wrecked," "Royal Decrees of Scanderoon," "Verse of Many Days," "Dispatches from Lincoln?s White House," "Inside the White House in War Times: Memoirs and Reports of Lincoln's Secretary," Volcano Under the City, Esau Hardery, Saltillo Boys, The Boy Lincoln, "Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life," "Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren," and "The Lives of the Presidents."

His parents were Prentice S. Stoddard and Sarah Osborn Stoddard and he had several siblings. He describes his family tree in detail in, "Recollections of a checkered lifetime: told for his children."