Paul Southworth Bliss Timeline

1889 April 12 — Born at Rice Lake, Wisconsin, along with his twin brother, Romney Amos. Paul is named after the apostle, Paul. Romney calls his twin, Paul, Tibbie. His father, Alden Southworth, is a lumber executive and his mother, Olive Irene, a school-teacher. His sister Miriam Bliss (later McIntyre) is born in 1894. Lives in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

1903 — Arrives in St. Paul, Minnesota, residing at 1684 Van Buren Street. The family attended Knox Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. His brother, Romney, dies on Nov. 29, 1903.

1907 — Graduation from Central High School in St. Paul.

1907–1911 — Attends Hamline University, where he was an accomplished athlete. Cub reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch. He quits midway through his junior year because of the loss of his father's income.

1909 July — His father, Alden, dies and is buried in Wisconsin.

1910 — His mother, Olive, acquires a quarter section of land in Clermont township of Adams County, North Dakota.

1911–1913 — Attends Harvard University, completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1913. In the Harvard College Report of the Class for 1913, he lists his occupation as "Journalism" and indicates that he is a member of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants.

1913–1914 — Post-graduate work in drama at Harvard.

1913 — Publicity Director at Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies and Community Fund.

1913 — Publishes The Stymie: A Comedy in Three Acts with Music and Dancing (produced at Harvard University, published by Caustic-Claflin).

1913–1915 — Feature writer, The Boston Post.

1915 — Writer for the New York Evening Telegram.

1915–1916 — Performs in New York on Broadway in a variety of productions.

1916 — Tours with "The Taming of the Shrew."

1916 — Writer for the Minneapolis Daily News in several editorial capacities.

1917 June — Completes his draft registration card, no. 243, at Camp Snelling, listing his place of work as the Minneapolis Journal and his address at 1684 Van Buren, St. Paul.

1917 August — Enters Officers' Training Camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Sails to France on September 2.

1919 May 28 — Promotion to major and assigned to 1st Battalion, 805th Pioneer Infantry, serving in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Returns to the U.S. on June 27 and is discharged on July 24th.

1919 October 17 — Commissioned Major Infantry Officers' Reserve.

1918–1923 — Minneapolis Star — music editor for three years. Also wrote for The Minneapolis Journal, and The Minneapolis Star.

1919 — Publishes Victory: History of the 805th Pioneer Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces.

1920 — Promoted to Lt. Colonel in Infantry Officers' Reserve. Later promoted to Colonel and became known as Colonel Paul Southworth Bliss, Officers' Reserve Corps.

1923–1926 — Minneapolis Community Fund Publicity Director.

1926 — Publicity Director St. Louis Community Council and Community Fund; later executive secretary of the St. Louis American Red Cross. His mother lives with him in St. Louis. He holds numerous positions with a variety of social organizations.

1928 — Publishes Songs For Seven Moods (Van Hoffmann Press).

1929 — Publishes After Supper Poems (privately printed) and visits Mexico where his favorite spot was the Juarez Monument in the Parque Alameda, the largest green space in the center of Mexico City.

1930 — Publishes Rough Edges And All (self-published in St. Louis).

1931 — Publishes How Pan Shaped The Leaves, and Other Poems (self-published in St. Louis).

1932 — Publishes The Arch Of Spring (self-published in St. Louis).

1933 October–1935 July — Field Representative, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, stationed in Williston, ND.

1934 — Publishes Spin Dance And Spring Comes To Shaw's Garden (Lakeside Press). Begins to build the "Scoria Lily Ranch."

1935 July–1937 — Director of Intake and Certification, later Director of Information Service on special assignment, Works Progress Administration of North Dakota (WPA), working out of the State Capitol in Bismarck, living at 1016 Seventh Street.

1935 November — Publishes Cirrus From The West (Lakeside Press).

1935 Dec. 1 — Garage warming at Scoria Lily Ranch.

1935 — Army Reserve duty at Fort Crook, Nebraska.

1936 — Publishes The Rye Is The Sea: A Book of Poems, together with prose accounts of the author's experiences as a novice hunter and angler entitled "Hunting Begins at Forty" and "Fishing Begins at Forty" (The Cirrus Company, Bismarck).

1936 December 14 — Deposits many of his papers (mostly copies of his official correspondence but some correspondence regarding his poetry and personal affairs) with the Minnesota Historical Society because he is moving to Kansas City.

1937 — Publishes Poems Of Places (Cirrus Company, Bismarck). Moves from North Dakota to Kansas City to take a job as Social Security Board administrator.

1937 December — Travels via train to the western United States and, on December 12th, visits the Grand Canyon. Throughout his life, he traveled widely in the US.

1938 — Privately publishes limited copies of the broadside entitled December and travels to Civilian Conservation Corp Camp at Liberty, Missouri for continuing education as per his Officers' Reserve status.

1939 — Publishes The Lord Made Kansas For Wheat (Kump Printing Company).

1940 December 31 — Dies at his own hand by his Army pistol in his room at the Kansas City YMCA. His body is found by the maid the next morning. Buried in the Maple Lawn Cemetery in Faribault, Minnesota in an unmarked grave in his mother's family plot, but in a location that can be seen on FindAGrave.

1941 September — Irene dies and her assets pass to his sister, Miriam, who goes on to have an illustrious career with the Girl Scouts and lives to an old age despite having been described by Paul as frail. Miriam dies in Delaware, Ohio on Jan. 23, 1978, where her arrangements are handled by her companion, Mary Snyder, and her cousin, Thomas L. Hughes, and she is cremated. Her burial location is unknown. The family branch of Alden and Irene Bliss ends with their children.