Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Mason, Caroline Atherton

MASON, Caroline Atherton, poet, b. in Marblehead, Mass., 27 July, 1823. Her father was Calvin Briggs, a physician. She was educated at the Bradford, Mass., academy, and began writing when quite young. One of her early poems, “Do they miss me at Home?” which first appeared in a Salem, Mass., newspaper, obtained immediate and widespread popularity, being set to music and sold in this country and in England. Several of her other poems have been similarly honored, notably “The King's Quest.” She has contributed largely to the hymnology of the Unitarian church, and her poetry generally is strong in the didactic element. She has published “Utterance, a Collection of Home Poems” (Boston, 1852), and a Sunday-school story, “Rose Hamilton” (1859). She resides at present (1888) in Fitchburg, Mass., and continues her contributions to the press.