Eggleston, eg'lz-ton, Edward (1837-1902), an American novelist. Born at Vevay, Indiana. He entered the Methodist ministry at nineteen. He spent 10 years in Minnesota preaching and tramping for his health--even at one time selling toilet articles from a peddler's pack. Later he attracted attention by magazine articles and became editor of the Little Corporal and of the Independent, as well as a contributor to Scribner's Monthly. In 1871 The Hoosier Schoolmaster, his first novel, appeared. This was the first of a series of stories dealing with the Middle West. The End of the World, The Mystery of Metropolisville, The Circuit Rider, Roxy, and The Graysons: A Story of Illinois, have found many readers. Some writing of a historical nature, particularly his Beginners of a Nation, show that Eggleston might have succeeded in this field; but his reputation rests on The Hoosier Schoolmaster. This novel occupies a place of its own in American literature in that it is the first of its kind. One cannot see that the style and plot of this novel have grown out of any story Eggleston can have read. It appears to be the beginning of a new kind of novel writing, of which David Harum and Eben Holden are examples.