Samuel Merwin was an American dramatist and author. Merwin was born on October 6, 1874, in Evanston, Illinois, to Ella B. and Orlando H. Merwin. His father was the postmaster in Evanston. Merwin and Edna Earl Fleshiem got married in 1901. The marriage had two sons, Samuel Kimball Merwin, Jr. and Banister Merwin, as well as an adoptive son named John Merwin. After graduating from Northwestern University, he served as Success magazine's associate editor and later editor from 1905 to 1911. In 1907, the magazine sent him to China to examine the opium trade. He died of a stroke while dining at The Player's Club in Manhattan on October 17, 1936.
