BURLINGAME, Mrs. Emeline S

Emeline S. Burlingame, an editor and evangelist, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island on September 22, 1836.  She grew up in Rhode Island and attended Providence High School and Rhode Island Normal School. Emeline married Luther Rawson Burlingame on November 24, 1859, and raised her family while also writing, editing, and participating in causes she believed in. The family lived in Whitestone, New York in 1865, Dover, New Hampshire in 1870, and Providence, Rhode Island in 1880.

One cause that Emeline was passionate about was her Free Will Baptist religion. Throughout her life, Emeline was a leader who used her talent to support Free Will Baptist causes.  She wrote for Morning Star and Little Star and edited Missionary Helper, all Free Will Baptist publications.  Emeline also edited The Myrle, a children's periodical, and Town and Country, a  temperance periodical.

Emeline lost two of her three sons at very young ages, a daughter at age nineteen, and Luther in 1890.  Emeline married Dr. Oren Burbank Cheney, the president of Bates College, on July 5, 1892, and moved to his home in Lewiston, Maine.  

A leader in women's causes, she was elected as corresponding secretary of the National Council of Women in 1894. Emeline's colleagues on committees included J. Ellen Foster, Belva Lockwood, and Rev. Anna Howard Shaw.  Working with other women, Emeline lent her talent and voice to the Atlanta Exposition in 1895. She spoke about "The Influence of Home and Foreign Mission Work on Women's Development," a topic she knew quite well.

After Oren’s death, Emeline wrote The Story of the Life and Work of Oren B. Cheney: Founder and First President of Bates College, which was published in 1907.  She passed away on February 26, 1923, and was buried in Providence’s Swan Point Cemetery.

• Phillipsburg herald. (Phillipsburg, Kan.), 31 Oct. 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85029677/1895-10-31/ed-1/seq-1/>

• Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 02 March 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1895-03-02/ed-1/seq-3/>

• Emeline Stanley Aldrich Cheney Find A Grave

• The Washington bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 23 Nov. 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025891/1895-11-23/ed-1/seq-3/>