text: Wallace Delois Wattles 1860–1911 was an American author. A New Thought writer, he remains somewhat obscure, his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought
  and self-help movements. Wattles’ best known work is a 1903 book called The Science of Getting Rich in which he explains how to become wealthy.
  Wattles’ daughter, Florence A. Wattles, described her father’s life in a “Letter” that was published shortly after his death in the New Thought magazine Nautilus, edited by Elizabeth Towne.
  The Nautilus had previously carried articles by Wattles in almost every issue, and Towne was also his book publisher. Florence Wattles wrote that her father was born in the U.S. in 1860,
  Wallace lived with his parents on a farm in Nunda Township, McHenry County, Illinois, and worked as a farm laborer. His father is listed as a gardener and his mother as “keeping house”.
  Florence wrote that “he made lots of money, and had good health, except for his extreme frailty” in the last three years before his death. Wattles died on February 7, 1911 in Ruskin, Tennessee, and his body was transported home for burial to Elwood, Indiana. As a sign of respect businesses closed throughout the town for two hours on the afternoon of his funeral.His death at age 51 was regarded as “untimely” by his daughter.