Time Line
 JAMES NORMAN HALL  FRENCH POLYNESIA THE WORLD
April 22, 1887 Born in Colfax, Iowa
1904  Graduated from high school
Visited St. Louis Exposition
1904-06  Worked in clothing store in Colfax
1906-10  Student at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
1908  Summer school at University of Chicago
1909  Summer in Scotland and England 
by bicycle witha  budget of $ 150.
Saw Bleriot's plane on exhibit in London
1910  Graduated from Grinnell College 
1910-14  Boston. Agent for Society for Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children. Friendship formed with 
Roy M. Cushman (Future Editor of the
Boston Globe), George C. Greener, 
Laurence L. Winship.
May 1914 Bicycle trip through Great Britain,
attempted to meet his idol Joseph Conrad
Aug. 18, 1914 London. Enlisted on British Expeditionary 
Force as Private in 9th Battalion Royal 
Fusiliers (Lord Kitchener's Volunteer Army
--the First Hundred Thousand)
Aug. 1914 - May 1915 Army training in England. 
Became machine gunner.
May-Nov. 1915 Machine gunner in Normandy, France
Sept.-Oct.1915 Battle of Loos
Dec. 1, 1915 Discharged from British Expeditionary 
Force. 
Returned to U. S. Met Ellery Sedgwick, 
editor of Atlantic Monthly 
Jan.-Apr. 1916 Wrote Kitchener's Mob
Summer 1916 In London with Greener
Sept. 1916  Paris. Gathering information for articles 
on Lafayette Escadrille for 
Atlantic Monthly
Oct. 16, 1916  Paris. Enlisted in Lafayette Escadrille
1916 Publication Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an 
American in Kitchener's Army.
Oct. 1916- Jun 1917 Aviation school at Buc, later at Avord.
June 14, 1917 Went to the front (near Soissans), in Squad 124
June 26, 1917 Wounded seriously in aerial combat with
four German planes.
June-Sept. 1917 American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly
Sept. 1917 Returned to action, rank of Sergeant 
Sept. 1917  Crashed on Vosges mountain, broke nose
Feb. 7, 1918 Transferred to 94th (and later to 103rd)
Pursuit Squadron of the U.S. Air Service 
with rank of Captain
May 7, 1918  Shot down behind German lines near 
Pagny-sur-Moselle, after the cover on
his wing came apart
May-July15,1918 Taken prisoner in German hospital 
with broken ankle and nose
July 15-Nov. 16, 1918 In various prisons in Germany, the last 
being Schloss Trausnitz in Landshut, 
Bavaria
Nov.16, 1918  Allowed to "escape" from prison, train 
to Munich, Lindau, through 
Switzerland to Paris 
Nov. 1918 Paris. Met Charles Nordhoff. Both commissioned 
to write history of Lafayette Escadrille
1918 Publication High Adventure: 
A Narrative of Air Fighting in France
Mar. 1919 Returned to U.S.
Promoted to Major
Summer 1919 Martha's Vineyard with Charles Nordhoff. 
Wrote The Lafayette Flying Corps
Fall 1919 Lecture tour
Jan. 1920 Nordhoff and Hall sailed from California 
to Tahiti, arrived Feb. 1920. 
Worked with Charles Nordhoff in 
a rented room at Hotel Aina Pare 
in Papeete
1920 Publication The Lafayette Flying Corps
(with Charles Nordhoff).
1920-1921  Voyages in South Seas on copra 
schooners
1921 Publications Faery Lands of the South Seas
(with Charles Nordhoff)
April 1922  Left Tahiti for U.S. and Iceland 
Aug. 1922-Feb. 23? Sat for 2nd degree at Grinnell
Summer 1923 Returned to Tahiti
1925 Settled in Arue
Married Sarah Winchester
1926  Son, Conrad Hall, born
1926 Publication
1928 Publication 
Mid-Pacific
On the Stream of Travel
1929  Nordhoff and Hall began 
Mutiny on the Bounty
1929 Publication Falcons of France: A Tale of Youth and 
the Air (with Charles Nordhoff)
Aug. 1930 Nancy born in San Diego. Visits to U.S. 
about every two years, usually 
staying several months in Calif.
1930 Publications Flying with Chaucer, 
Mother Goose Land
1932 Publication Mutiny on the Bounty
(with Charles Nordhoff).
1933 Shipwrecked near Mangareva while
researching Pitcain - Lost for several months
1934 Publications Men Against the Sea
(with Charles Nordhoff), 
Pitcairn's Island
(with Charles Nordhoff),
The Tale of a Shipwreck
1936 Publication The Hurricane (with Charles Nordhoff).
1938 Publication Dark River (with Charles Nordhoff).
1939 Publication The Friends
1940 Publications Oh, Millersville!
(By Fern Gravel, pseud.). 
No More Gas
(with Charles Nordhoff). 
Doctor Dogbody's Leg
1941  Charles Nordhoff's departure 
for the United States
1941 Publication Botany Bay (with Charles Nordhoff).
1942 Publications Men Without Country
(with Charles Nordhoff),
Under A Thatched Roof.
1944 Publication Lost Island.
1945 Publication The High Barbaree
(with Charles Nordhoff),
April 1947 Santa Barbara, Calif. Nancy's marriage 
to Nicholas Rutgers.
Charles Nordhoff's death.
1949 Publication A Word for His Sponsor
A Narrative Poem
June 1950  Grinnell College, 40th reunion, 
received honorary PhD degree in
Literature, became Dr. Hall
1950 Publication The Far Lands
July 6, 1951 Tahiti. Died of cardio-vascular ailment 
1952 Publications The Forgotten One and 
Other True Tales of the South Seas
Her Daddy's Best Ice Cream
My Island Home
Continue to page 6:
The Hall Family Tree