Born 1905 in Blija, Friesland Province, The Netherlands.
Soon after his family moved to Groningen, later to Wierum in the Netherlands. At the age of thirteen He was brought to the U.S.A. by his parents. They came directly to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He finished grammar school at Baldwin Street Christian School, went to business school for a time, worked in offices, banks, etc. for the next three years, including G. R. Savings and Home State banks. David returned to school, then to Calvin College, and got his A. B. in 1929. He taught in Edmore, Michigan high school for one year and then went on a fellowship to Duke University, Durham, NC and got his M. A. degree there in 1932. David next went to Brown University, Providence, R.I., on a fellowship.

He was ready to start on his Ph.D thesis and prelims when he had a novel taken by Alfred Knopf. He stopped going to the university, used all his time writing and lived in Providence and West Barrington, R. I. In the last few years since my Calvin senior year, I have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Scribner’s, Esquire, Poetry, Literature, American Caravan IV, and numerous other magazines, also several anthologies of poetry and prose.

My next novel is scheduled to appear either this summer or early autumn, the volume of short stories having been postponed until later.

Mr. De Jong died at the age of 62 on Tuesday September, 1967, after a long illness in Providence, R. I.

He was a prolific writer with 13 novels, 5 children’s books, several books of poetry and many short stories to his credit. Some of the titles are: Belly Fulla Straw, Old Haven, Light Sons and Dark, Day of the Trumpet, The Desperate Children, Two Sofas in the Parlor, The Walls of Everything, Looking for Alexander and Around Dom. His children’s books are: The Seven Sayings of Mr. Jefferson, The Unfairness of Easter, The Birthday Umbrella, The Sly Whistle and the Happy Birthday Egg.

He married Elizabeth Moffitt in 1945. A brother, Meindert, is also a noted writer specializing in children’s books.