Category: Authors

Poet, Essayist and Independent Woman Image: Celia Thaxter at different stages of her life Credit: Seacoast New Hampshire Known as the Island poet, Celia Laighton Thaxter lived much of her life on the Isles of Shoals, a group of nine islands six miles off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. She wrote primarily of her life on White, Smuttynose and Appledore islands. The darling of literary Boston, she attracted some of New England’s great writers and artists to her family’s hotel on Appledore. Early Years Celia Laighton was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire June 29, 1835. In 1839 her father Thomas Laighton was hired as lighthouse keeper on White Island, Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire….

Author and California Pioneer Eliza Farnham (1815-1864) was an author, feminist, lecturer, activist for prison reform, and early proponent of the superiority of women. In her day, Farnham was once one of the most highly praised women nonfiction authors in the United States. She made national headlines with her writings and was at the vanguard of several social and political movements of her time, including abolitionism, women’s rights and Spiritualism. Farnham’s reform work was also her career and a matter of financial necessity throughout her life. Early Years Eliza Burhans was born on November 17, 1815 in the Hudson Valley town of Rensselaerville, New York, the daughter of Cornelius and Mary Wood Burhans. Eliza’s mother died in 1820, after which…

Author of the Elsie Dinsmore Novels Martha Finley (1828-1909) was a teacher and author of the well known the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series of novels which were published over a span of 38 years. Her Presbyterian upbringing was the source of inspiration for her life’s work, especially in the Elsie books. For over forty years she sold more books than any other juvenile author, besides Louisa May Alcott. Martha Finley was born in Chillicothe, Ohio on April 26, 1828, the daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and Maria Theresa Brown Finley. The Finleys were of Scotch-Irish heritage, with deep roots in the Presbyterian Church. Martha’s grandfather, Samuel Finley, served in the Revolutionary War and the War of…

Anglo American Novelist and Playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was an British American playwright and author. She is best known for her children’s stories, in particular Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905) and The Secret Garden (1911). Her status as a divorced woman writer supporting her family with her earnings pushed the boundaries of what was considered ‘a woman’s place’ in 19th century society. Early Years Frances Eliza Hodgson was born on November 24, 1849 in Cheetham, near Manchester, England, the third of five children of Eliza Boond Hodgson and Edwin Hodgson, who owned a business selling quality ironmongery and brass goods. Frances was the middle of the five Hodgson children, with two older brothers and two younger…