Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Al­bert H. Dan­forth and Re­bec­ca Han­nah Lynn, and hus­band of Ad­da Bush (mar­ried 1894).

He grew up in Miss­iss­ip­pi Coun­ty, Mis­sou­ri, and gra­du­at­ed from Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Lou­is in 1892.

He found­ed the Rals­ton-Pu­ri­na com­pa­ny in St. Lou­is in 1894, and was a co-found­er of the Am­er­ican Youth Foun­da­tion (AYF) in 1924.

Works

• Songs of Ser­vice, with John L. Al­ex­an­der, J. R. Mar­cum & R. A. Waite (New York: Uni­ver­si­ty So­cie­ty, 1918)
• I Dare You! (St. Louis, Mis­sou­ri: pri­vate­ly print­ed, 1941)