Although Catharine did not go to college, she considered herself to have been raised in a highly intellectual home:
"I was reared in an atmosphere of high intelligence. My father had uncommon mental vigor. So had my brothers. Their daily habits, and pursuits, and pleasures were intellectual, and I naturally imbibed from them a kindred taste" (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 46-47).
When she was ten, Catharine could be found during her school lunch hour under her desk munching and reading Rollins’s Ancient History. While her four brothers followed in their father’s footsteps and became lawyers, they encouraged Catharine to pursue her writing, and she published her first book at age thirty-three.
Professionally, Catharine went on to become a successful and prolific author on a wide variety of topics in six novels, over one-hundred short stories and sketches, as well as domestic novellas, advice manuals, biographies, religious tracts, travelogues, and children’s books. She is considered to be one of the founders of American literature and enjoyed national and international renown during her lifetime. It is noteworthy that Catharine and Martha Washington were the only women selected for inclusion in the first volume of the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans.
The indefatigable Catharine continued to write for forty years publishing her last piece at the age of seventy-two. Catharine also taught at her sister-in-law’s Young Ladies’ School in Lenox, MA and various Sunday schools, including the Isaac T. Hopper Home. In her later years, she volunteered for the Female Department of the New York Prison Association (becoming president from 1848 to 1863), which led to her opening the Home for Discharged Female Convicts.
Personally, Catharine chose to become a member of her siblings’ households instead of marrying various suitors. For most of her life, she lived and worked in New York City and Stockbridge/Lenox, MA and traveled throughout North America and Europe. She also participated in the Berkshire’s literary society and received visits from authors, politicians, activists, and renowned international figures.
Catharine passed away in 1867 at the home of her niece in West Roxbury at the age of seventy-seven. She was remembered as a “true and beautiful soul, a clear and refined intellect, and a singularly sympathetic social nature” (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 10) with “clear good sense, and graced by a charm of style of which she was the master during her whole life”:
"Her unerring sense of rectitude, her love of truth, her ready sympathy, her active and cheerful beneficence, her winning and gracious manners, the perfection of high breeding, make up a character, the idea of which, as it rests on my mind, I would not exchange for any thing in her own interesting works of fiction" (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 446).
Catharine was buried in the family plot in Stockbridge next to her beloved nurse, Elizabeth (“Mum-Bett”) Freeman. (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections Online: Witness to America’s Past Description; Sedgwick Pie). Mum-Bett had been the first freed slave in Massachusetts who thereafter earned a living by working in the home of her attorney, Catharine’s father, and became an important mother figure to the family before her father remarried in 1808 (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections Online: Witness to America’s Past Description; Lucinda L. Damon-Bach & Victoria Clements, Catharine Maria Sedgwick: Critical Perspectives at xxiii and xxxiv (2003)).
Catharine had used her gift with words to memorialized Mum-Bett’s noble life in her article “Slavery in New England” in 1853 (Miss Sedgewick [sic], “Slavery in New England,” in XXXIV Bentley’s Miscellany at 417, 424 (1853)). Five years after Catharine’s death, Harper & Brothers would do the same for Catharine by publishing a book entitled the Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick, which was edited by her life-long neighbor, Mary E. Dewey.
]]>Born in Stockbridge, MA, Catharine Maria Sedgwick was the sixth of the seven surviving children of Theodore Sedgwick and Pamela Dwight Sedgwick. Catharine’s mother was ill for most of her childhood and died when Catharine was seventeen. A year later, her father remarried Penelope Russell. For most of Catharine’s childhood, her father was away from home for more than half of each year pursuing a political career with six terms in the Continental Congress, U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, Senator from Massachusetts, and a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, and then passed away in 1813 when Catharine was twenty-three.
Although Catharine did not go to college, she considered herself to have been raised in a highly intellectual home:
"I was reared in an atmosphere of high intelligence. My father had uncommon mental vigor. So had my brothers. Their daily habits, and pursuits, and pleasures were intellectual, and I naturally imbibed from them a kindred taste" (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 46-47).
When she was ten, Catharine could be found during her school lunch hour under her desk munching and reading Rollins’s Ancient History. While her four brothers followed in their father’s footsteps and became lawyers, they encouraged Catharine to pursue her writing, and she published her first book at age thirty-three.
Professionally, Catharine went on to become a successful and prolific author on a wide variety of topics in six novels, over one-hundred short stories and sketches, as well as domestic novellas, advice manuals, biographies, religious tracts, travelogues, and children’s books. She is considered to be one of the founders of American literature and enjoyed national and international renown during her lifetime. It is noteworthy that Catharine and Martha Washington were the only women selected for inclusion in the first volume of the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans.
The indefatigable Catharine continued to write for forty years publishing her last piece at the age of seventy-two. Catharine also taught at her sister-in-law’s Young Ladies’ School in Lenox, MA and various Sunday schools, including the Isaac T. Hopper Home. In her later years, she volunteered for the Female Department of the New York Prison Association (becoming president from 1848 to 1863), which led to her opening the Home for Discharged Female Convicts.
Personally, Catharine chose to become a member of her siblings’ households instead of marrying various suitors. For most of her life, she lived and worked in New York City and Stockbridge/Lenox, MA and traveled throughout North America and Europe. She also participated in the Berkshire’s literary society and received visits from authors, politicians, activists, and renowned international figures.
Catharine passed away in 1867 at the home of her niece in West Roxbury at the age of seventy-seven. She was remembered as a “true and beautiful soul, a clear and refined intellect, and a singularly sympathetic social nature” (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 10) with “clear good sense, and graced by a charm of style of which she was the master during her whole life”:
"Her unerring sense of rectitude, her love of truth, her ready sympathy, her active and cheerful beneficence, her winning and gracious manners, the perfection of high breeding, make up a character, the idea of which, as it rests on my mind, I would not exchange for any thing in her own interesting works of fiction" (Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick: 446).
Catharine was buried in the family plot in Stockbridge next to her beloved nurse, Elizabeth (“Mum-Bett”) Freeman. (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections Online: Witness to America’s Past Description; Sedgwick Pie). Mum-Bett had been the first freed slave in Massachusetts who thereafter earned a living by working in the home of her attorney, Catharine’s father, and became an important mother figure to the family before her father remarried in 1808 (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections Online: Witness to America’s Past Description; Lucinda L. Damon-Bach & Victoria Clements, Catharine Maria Sedgwick: Critical Perspectives at xxiii and xxxiv (2003)).
Catharine had used her gift with words to memorialized Mum-Bett’s noble life in her article “Slavery in New England” in 1853 (Miss Sedgewick [sic], “Slavery in New England,” in XXXIV Bentley’s Miscellany at 417, 424 (1853)). Five years after Catharine’s death, Harper & Brothers would do the same for Catharine by publishing a book entitled the Life and Letters of Catharine M. Sedgwick, which was edited by her life-long neighbor, Mary E. Dewey.
Having loved writing from an early age, Susanna became a contributor to periodicals and magazines. She also was a very talented hymn writer.
Susanna passed away on November 30, 1905 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.
]]>Author Susanna Valentine Aldrich was born in Hopkinton, MA on November 14, 1828. She later lived in Roxbury, MA.
Having loved writing from an early age, Susanna became a contributor to periodicals and magazines. She also was a very talented hymn writer.
Susanna passed away on November 30, 1905 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.
She passed away on March 4, 1921, and was buried in Dansville's Green Mount Cemetery.
]]>Katharine Johnson Jackson, daughter of former Massachusetts senator and representative Hon. Emerson Johnson, was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on April 7, 1841. Following periods of public school and home school instruction, she entered a prestigious school in Hopedale, Massachusetts, at age sixteen. Katharine subsequently completed her high school studies at a school in Hartford, Connecticut, where she later taught. To further her education, she studied stenography and was likely one of its first woman practitioners.
In 1861, Katharine, also referred to as Kate, began her lifelong career at Our Home on the Hillside, as private secretary to Dr. James C. Jackson, director of the Jackson Sanatorium. Established in 1858, the Jackson Sanatorium was founded on two basic principles: to restore sick people to health, and to teach the philosophy of health by right living. While employed at the sanatorium in Dansville, New York, she met and later married James H. Jackson, the son of Dr. James C. Jackson. They had one child, James Arthur Jackson, who was born a few years after their 1864 marriage. During these years Katharine and James attended medical school. She attended The Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary where she graduated as valedictorian of her class. James completed his medical school at Bellevue.
Following her graduation, Katharine worked as a physician and managing staff member at The Jackson Sanatorium where she helped to make the home a haven of rest for the sick and suffering. Dr. Kate Jackson was intensely devoted to helping people both physically and spiritually. While acutely aware and interested in contemporary women's issues, the rigorous nature of her professional life prevented her from being as active in social causes as she would have liked. Kate was noted to be a persuasive and informative speaker who educated the staff and patients of the sanatorium regarding health and other practical subjects. The physical and spiritual care Dr. Jackson gave to her patients, and the education she provided to enable patients to care for themselves, established her as an inspiration among nineteenth-century women.
She passed away on March 4, 1921, and was buried in Dansville's Green Mount Cemetery.
In December of 1841, Lydia began teaching at Mason Street Public School in Salem, and by 1860, she was serving as principal. She continued in this capacity until the end of the 1871-1872 academic year, The next school year, she became principal of Dunlap Street School.
While busy with her career in education, Lydia also found time to create paintings and clay models, to write poetry and prose, and to design and illustrate books. Her design for the book “Red Riding Hood,” in the shape of the main character, was innovative and very popular.
An advocate of corporal punishment for children, Lydia wrote to Charles Brown Lore, Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, in the Spring of 1901 to support his views on this issue. She passed away later that year, on September 10, 1901 and was buried in Old South Cemetery in Peabody, Massachusetts.
]]>Lydia Louisa Anna Very was born on November 2, 1823, in Salem, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Jones and Lydia Very. Her father passed away when Lydia was just a year old.
In December of 1841, Lydia began teaching at Mason Street Public School in Salem, and by 1860, she was serving as principal. She continued in this capacity until the end of the 1871-1872 academic year, The next school year, she became principal of Dunlap Street School.
While busy with her career in education, Lydia also found time to create paintings and clay models, to write poetry and prose, and to design and illustrate books. Her design for the book “Red Riding Hood,” in the shape of the main character, was innovative and very popular.
An advocate of corporal punishment for children, Lydia wrote to Charles Brown Lore, Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, in the Spring of 1901 to support his views on this issue. She passed away later that year, on September 10, 1901 and was buried in Old South Cemetery in Peabody, Massachusetts.
Louisa was involved in many philanthropic and reform activities, including ministering to the sick using the Water Cure, and participating in philanthropy, anti-slavery reform, temperance reform, and suffrage efforts. Louisa utilized her public speaking and journalistic talents on behalf of the causes she believed in.
Before the Civil War, Louisa wrote poetry, contributed articles to the Oxford Democrat, and led anti-slavery efforts in her area As her daughter Christina later remembered, Louisa was very active in the war effort: "During the civil war Mrs. Greene's patriotic labors were untiring. In addition to multitudinous household duties, which were always faithfully performed, she took upon herself the labor of collecting, preparing and forwarding hospital supplies for the boys at the front who were so dear to her heart."
In 1869, Louisa's family moved to Manassas, Virginia, residing at the home they named Birmingham. She became a widow four years later.
Louisa passed away in Washington, D.C. on March 5, 1900, and her ashes were buried in the family plot at St. Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to Christina's beautiful obituary, Louisa's daughter Estelle also penned a farewell announcement and included a poem that she had written about her mother's passing. Within her tribute, Estelle included Louisa's motto: "Help for the living and hope for the dead."
At the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention in February of 1902, it was announced that Louisa had bequeathed $100 to the organization.
Louisa Morton Willard Greene was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, on May 23, 1819. She worked in a woolen mill in Dedham, Massachusetts, where she began writing, and later taught in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
After marrying businessman and politician Jonas Greene in 1841, Louisa became the mother of a son, Jonas Willard Greene, who was stillborn, two younger sons, Willard Jonas Greene and George Henry Greene, and five daughters, Martha, Estelle, Christina, Wilma, and Charlena. The family lived in Peru, Maine.
Louisa was involved in many philanthropic and reform activities, including ministering to the sick using the Water Cure, and participating in philanthropy, anti-slavery reform, temperance reform, and suffrage efforts. Louisa utilized her public speaking and journalistic talents on behalf of the causes she believed in.
Before the Civil War, Louisa wrote poetry, contributed articles to the Oxford Democrat, and led anti-slavery efforts in her area As her daughter Christina later remembered, Louisa was very active in the war effort: "During the civil war Mrs. Greene's patriotic labors were untiring. In addition to multitudinous household duties, which were always faithfully performed, she took upon herself the labor of collecting, preparing and forwarding hospital supplies for the boys at the front who were so dear to her heart."
In 1869, Louisa's family moved to Manassas, Virginia, residing at the home they named Birmingham. She became a widow four years later.
Louisa passed away in Washington, D.C. on March 5, 1900, and her ashes were buried in the family plot at St. Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to Christina's beautiful obituary, Louisa's daughter Estelle also penned a farewell announcement and included a poem that she had written about her mother's passing. Within her tribute, Estelle included Louisa's motto: "Help for the living and hope for the dead."
At the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention in February of 1902, it was announced that Louisa had bequeathed $100 to the organization.
When Mr. Colman, an engineer on the New York Central Railroad, was killed in a railroad accident in 1852, Andrew Jackson Davis presided at his funeral in Rochester, NY. While living in Rochester, Lucy took over the “colored school” to close it, encouraging parents to send their children to district schools.
Lucy lectured in several states about the causes she believed in. In 1857, the Anti-Slavery Bugle of New-Lisbon, Ohio published her recollections of her travels on behalf of the cause. During the Civil War, the well-connected Lucy Colman arranged and attended a meeting at the White House between Sojourner Truth and President Lincoln.
Susan B. Anthony invited Lucy to read a paper at a state convention of teachers, and Mrs. Colman chose to use this opportunity to advocate for the abolition of corporal punishment in the Rochester schools.
Later, Lucy served as matron in the National Colored Orphan Asylum in Washington, D.C. and was appointed teacher of a ”colored school” in Georgetown, D.C.
Lucy wrote about her life in Reminiscences, which was published by H. L. Green in 1891. She passed away in Syracuse, New York on January 18, 1906.
]]>Lucy Newhall Colman, an anti-slavery agitator and woman suffragist, was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts on July 26, 1817. She married at eighteen and moved to Boston, but her husband died of consumption in 1841.
She married again two years later and gave birth to a daughter in 1845. Colman began to advocate for equal rights of women and emancipation of the slaves in 1846. In her anti-slavery work, Lucy was associated with William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Frederick Douglass.
When Mr. Colman, an engineer on the New York Central Railroad, was killed in a railroad accident in 1852, Andrew Jackson Davis presided at his funeral in Rochester, NY. While living in Rochester, Lucy took over the “colored school” to close it, encouraging parents to send their children to district schools.
Lucy lectured in several states about the causes she believed in. In 1857, the Anti-Slavery Bugle of New-Lisbon, Ohio published her recollections of her travels on behalf of the cause. During the Civil War, the well-connected Lucy Colman arranged and attended a meeting at the White House between Sojourner Truth and President Lincoln.
Susan B. Anthony invited Lucy to read a paper at a state convention of teachers, and Mrs. Colman chose to use this opportunity to advocate for the abolition of corporal punishment in the Rochester schools.
Later, Lucy served as matron in the National Colored Orphan Asylum in Washington, D.C. and was appointed teacher of a ”colored school” in Georgetown, D.C.
Lucy wrote about her life in Reminiscences, which was published by H. L. Green in 1891. She passed away in Syracuse, New York on January 18, 1906.
As the leader of the General Federation of Women's Literary Clubs, Charlotte strove to expand its membership. Her A Woman of the Century profile notes:
"Mrs. Brown is greatly interested in the woman's club movement and gladly devotes her whole time to work for its advancement. She possesses unusual power of memory, mental concentration, energy and business ability, combined with such sweetness of disposition and deference for others as to make it easy for her to accomplish whatever she undertakes. She is enthusiastic and inspires others with her own magnetism. She combines the power of general plan with minute detail, and her motto is that what should be done at all should be done promptly and thoroughly" (125-126).
In addition, Charlotte was a member of the Woman's Board of Missions.
She passed away on February 4, 1895, and was buried in Newark, New Jersey.
]]>Charlotte Emerson Brown, born in Andover, Massachusetts, on April 21, 1838, was an author, a businesswoman, a philanthropist, a suffragist, and a teacher.
As the leader of the General Federation of Women's Literary Clubs, Charlotte strove to expand its membership. Her A Woman of the Century profile notes:
"Mrs. Brown is greatly interested in the woman's club movement and gladly devotes her whole time to work for its advancement. She possesses unusual power of memory, mental concentration, energy and business ability, combined with such sweetness of disposition and deference for others as to make it easy for her to accomplish whatever she undertakes. She is enthusiastic and inspires others with her own magnetism. She combines the power of general plan with minute detail, and her motto is that what should be done at all should be done promptly and thoroughly" (125-126).
In addition, Charlotte was a member of the Woman's Board of Missions.
She passed away on February 4, 1895, and was buried in Newark, New Jersey.
"She handed to the faculty a dissertation, entitled 'Zur Gutturalfrage im Gotischen,' which attracted general comment by its wide research and scholarly handling" (756).
Dr. Webster taught at Barnard, Vassar, and Wellesley, where she was the Chair of Comparative Philology. After Reverend Silas Tertius Rand passed away, she wrote the preface to his Legends of the MicMacs."She handed to the faculty a dissertation, entitled 'Zur Gutturalfrage im Gotischen,' which attracted general comment by its wide research and scholarly handling" (756).
Dr. Webster taught at Barnard, Vassar, and Wellesley, where she was the Chair of Comparative Philology. After Reverend Silas Tertius Rand passed away, she wrote the preface to his Legends of the MicMacs.A member of the Association for the Advancement of Women, Amanda was a strong advocate for women's education. In 1876, she took two of their daughters to Europe. As The Lake County Star noted, "They sail to Europe, and will remain abroad for some time, Mrs. Aikens intending to educate her daughters, giving them the full benefit of French and German study." Eight years later, she made another trip there with Stella and Minnie, since Minnie was going to be attending school in Paris. The St. Paul Daily Globe reported that Amanda would "remain with her while she is receiving her education."
Interested in educating all women, Amanda was involved with the establishment of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, later serving as its Vice President. She also supported the Johns Hopkins Medical School to ensure that it would accept female students.
Amanda's profile in A Woman of the Century goes into detail about her work with another women's organization:
"She has been identified for fifteen years as an officer or director with the Art Science Class, a literary organization for the purpose of developing a taste in architecture, painting, sculpture, and science. One-hundred-fifty ladies belong to this class, and it has done more for the direct education of women in the arts and sciences than any other society in the State" (11).
Amanda's extensive charity work included being a state delegate to the National Conference of Charities, as well as serving with Ella A. Giles and others on the Committee On Charitable Work by Women of the Wisconsin Conference of Charities.
Also interested in politics, Amanda was a founder of the Woman's Republican Club of Wisconsin.
She continued her work with the Association for the Advancement of Women, meeting with Julia Ward Howe, Ednah Dow Cheney, Martha H. Mowry, and many other colleagues in Grand Rapids, Michigan in October of 1891, and being elected the Wisconsin officer.
After being ill for several months, Amanda passed away at her Milwaukee home on May 20, 1892.
Amanda L. Aikens was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on May 12, 1833, and later lived in Pittsfield. She met Andrew J. Aikens, editor of a weekly North Adams newspaper, and the couple moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin after their 1854 marriage. Amanda devoted her life to raising their three daughters, editing the "Woman's World" department of the Evening Wisconsin, her husband's paper, and participating in numerous activities.
A member of the Association for the Advancement of Women, Amanda was a strong advocate for women's education. In 1876, she took two of their daughters to Europe. As The Lake County Star noted, "They sail to Europe, and will remain abroad for some time, Mrs. Aikens intending to educate her daughters, giving them the full benefit of French and German study." Eight years later, she made another trip there with Stella and Minnie, since Minnie was going to be attending school in Paris. The St. Paul Daily Globe reported that Amanda would "remain with her while she is receiving her education."
Interested in educating all women, Amanda was involved with the establishment of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, later serving as its Vice President. She also supported the Johns Hopkins Medical School to ensure that it would accept female students.
Amanda's profile in A Woman of the Century goes into detail about her work with another women's organization:
"She has been identified for fifteen years as an officer or director with the Art Science Class, a literary organization for the purpose of developing a taste in architecture, painting, sculpture, and science. One-hundred-fifty ladies belong to this class, and it has done more for the direct education of women in the arts and sciences than any other society in the State" (11).
Amanda's extensive charity work included being a state delegate to the National Conference of Charities, as well as serving with Ella A. Giles and others on the Committee On Charitable Work by Women of the Wisconsin Conference of Charities.
Also interested in politics, Amanda was a founder of the Woman's Republican Club of Wisconsin.
She continued her work with the Association for the Advancement of Women, meeting with Julia Ward Howe, Ednah Dow Cheney, Martha H. Mowry, and many other colleagues in Grand Rapids, Michigan in October of 1891, and being elected the Wisconsin officer.
After being ill for several months, Amanda passed away at her Milwaukee home on May 20, 1892.
Abby's career included being an industrial reformer, an Anti-Slavery advocate, a teacher, a housekeeper, a social worker, and an author. She was writing fiction by her early forties and contributed to The Arena, The Atlantic Monthly, Hearth and Home, The Independent, New England Magazine, Our Young Folks, and Wide Awake.
Diaz's three 1864 pieces in The Atlantic Monthly were "The Schoolmaster's Story," "Some Account of the Early Life of an Old Bachelor," and "The Little Country-Girl."
A popular juvenile fiction writer, she often published with James R. Osgood and Company. Her The William Henry Letters was published in 1872. During the Christmas holiday of 1877, her The Jimmyjohns & Other Stories received high praise from The Independent: "The Jimmyjohns and Other Stories, by the charming juvenile writer, Mrs. A. M. Diaz, is one of the very best children's books of the year." Some of her other works were: William Henry and His Friends, The Cats' Arabian Nights, or King Grimalkum, and Bybury to Beacon Street,
While writing, she also continued lecturing on topics such as "Women's Work for the Millenium."
In 1889, Abby wrote a piece about her hometown, "A Plymouth Pilgrimage," for New England Magazine. Ten years later, Diaz penned "Antislavery Times in Plymouth" for the same periodical.
Abby continued to write and publish into the new century. Her The Flatiron and the Red Cloak; Old Times at X-Roads was published by T. Y. Crowell % Company in 1901. She passed away in Belmont, Massachusetts on April 1, 1904 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
]]>Abby Morton Diaz was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on November 22, 1821. During the 1840s, Abby and some of her family members spent time at Brook Farm, the Uptopian community in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Recalling her friends hip with Abby there, Ora Gannett Sedgwick later commented: "Among these I must not omit to mention Abby Morton (Mrs. Diaz), who became very dear to me, and whose peculiar combination of liveliness and dignity, together with her beautiful singing, made her a favorite with all the members, old and new" [Atlantic Monthly, 85 (509): 401].
Abby's career included being an industrial reformer, an Anti-Slavery advocate, a teacher, a housekeeper, a social worker, and an author. She was writing fiction by her early forties and contributed to The Arena, The Atlantic Monthly, Hearth and Home, The Independent, New England Magazine, Our Young Folks, and Wide Awake.
Diaz's three 1864 pieces in The Atlantic Monthly were "The Schoolmaster's Story," "Some Account of the Early Life of an Old Bachelor," and "The Little Country-Girl."
A popular juvenile fiction writer, she often published with James R. Osgood and Company. Her The William Henry Letters was published in 1872. During the Christmas holiday of 1877, her The Jimmyjohns & Other Stories received high praise from The Independent: "The Jimmyjohns and Other Stories, by the charming juvenile writer, Mrs. A. M. Diaz, is one of the very best children's books of the year." Some of her other works were: William Henry and His Friends, The Cats' Arabian Nights, or King Grimalkum, and Bybury to Beacon Street,
While writing, she also continued lecturing on topics such as "Women's Work for the Millenium."
In 1889, Abby wrote a piece about her hometown, "A Plymouth Pilgrimage," for New England Magazine. Ten years later, Diaz penned "Antislavery Times in Plymouth" for the same periodical.
Abby continued to write and publish into the new century. Her The Flatiron and the Red Cloak; Old Times at X-Roads was published by T. Y. Crowell % Company in 1901. She passed away in Belmont, Massachusetts on April 1, 1904 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The couple moved to Fenton, Michigan, and Cynthia became a popular lecturer. In her talks, Gorton spoke to her audiences about temperance and other topics she was passionate about.
Professionally, Cynthia was known as "Ida Glenwood," "The Blind Bard of Michigan," and "The Sweet Singer." In addition to penning several books, including Lily Pearl and the Mistress of Rosedale, she contributed to The Christian Herald of Detroit and The Magazine of Poetry.
On August 10, 1894, Cynthia M. Roberts Gorton died at her home in Fenton, Michigan.
]]>Cynthia M. Roberts Gorton was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on February 27, 1826. While attending Troy Female Seminary, she began to lose her sight. After Cynthia married Frederick Gorton, she became totally blind. However, this determined woman did not let her blindness stop her.
The couple moved to Fenton, Michigan, and Cynthia became a popular lecturer. In her talks, Gorton spoke to her audiences about temperance and other topics she was passionate about.
Professionally, Cynthia was known as "Ida Glenwood," "The Blind Bard of Michigan," and "The Sweet Singer." In addition to penning several books, including Lily Pearl and the Mistress of Rosedale, she contributed to The Christian Herald of Detroit and The Magazine of Poetry.
On August 10, 1894, Cynthia M. Roberts Gorton died at her home in Fenton, Michigan.
Clara Barton, a native of North Oxford, MA, is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross. She was born on December 25, 1821, the youngest child of Stephen and Sara Stone Barton. Clara grew up in North Oxford and lived near her cousin, Martha Elvira Stone. When she was young, Clara taught in North Oxford and worked part-time in a cotton mill.
After teaching in North Oxford for many years, she moved to Clinton, NY to enroll in the Clinton Liberal Institute. She opened a school in Bordentown, NJ and later relocated to Washington, D.C. to work at the United States Patent Office. During the Civil War, Clara tended to wounded soldiers after numerous battles. She became known as "The Angel of the Battlefield." When the war was over, she became very involved with The Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army in Washington, D.C. In 1867, after meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Clara became involved in working for suffrage.
Later, while in Europe, Clara learned about the International Red Cross and served as part of the relief corps during the Franco-Prussian War. Clara fought to establish the American Red Cross, and in March of 1881, she became the leader of the American Red Cross.
In addition, Clara, Mary Emily Bennett Coues, and others founded the Pro Re Nata women's club in Washington in 1892.
After many years of work with the American Red Cross, Clara resigned in 1904 and formed the National First Aid Association of America.