J. Ross Browne

J. Ross Browne (1821–1875) was an Irish-born American travel writer, illustrator and government agent. Brought to Kentucky as a boy, he worked as a reporter in Washington, shipped on a whaler and described its brutality in Etchings of a Whaling Cruise. Settling in California, he reported on its constitutional convention, investigated Indian affairs and customs for the federal government, and later served as United States minister to China. His humorous, self-illustrated travel books include Yusef, Crusoe's Island, Adventures in the Apache Country, An American Family in Germany and The Land of Thor.