Author talk:Eleanora Littledale Fergusson

Author:Eliza Lee Follen?

Follen published several works under the name "E. L. F." around the same time in the same geographical area; I would be very surprised if she were not the author of Poems. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 19:31, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

A good theory, but this was published, and signed by the author, in 1861, and Follen died in 1860. — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 07:31, 1 August 2024 (UTC) EDIT: Also, E. L. F. was printed in Edinburgh and Follen in Boston, so the area doesn't match. — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 17:38, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

@Beleg Tâl: Also, where did you find the work period end:1877? — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 17:36, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Our Home in the Marsh Land; or, Days of Auld Lang Syne by E. L. F. was written by Follen source, and was published posthumously in Edinburgh and London in 1877. It makes sense to me that a collection of poems intended for private circulation would be given broader publication after the author's death. Also, Follen did spend some time living in the UK (that's where she wrote The Lark and the Linnet, for instance). —Beleg Tâl (talk) 19:30, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

That being said, I was not aware that the volume of Poems was autographed lol —Beleg Tâl (talk) 19:31, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Also it's possible that encyclopedia.com is misattributing Our Home in the Marsh Land to Follen, but I rather suspect it's by the same author as Poems. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 19:34, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Had to be the one to mark that page as without text for that :). — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 20:59, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

So, what do we know about E.L.F.?

1. She wrote Poems (E. L. F.), which was published in 1861 in Edinburgh
2. She signed a copy of it in London on June 30, 1873, inscribed to "Janet Richardson" (if I have deciphered her handwriting correctly)
3. She may have also been the author of the novel Our Home in the Marsh Land, published in 1877 in London and Edinburgh
4. She was writing poetry at least as early as 1842, at Roseneath (presumably the village of Rosneath in Argyll and Bute, Scotland)
5. She lost a sister at the age of 10
6. She has a sister named Mary ("Molly") whose birthday is in December
7. She attended a wedding of M. I. F., aka Mary (presumably her sister?) on Oct. 26, 1857
8. She may have lost an infant child in 1847 (when she wrote a bunch of poems on the subject)
9. She appears to have had three daughters: Nora (birthday is June 21), Minnie (a child in 1855), and Mary Maud

This seems like enough info for a positive ID, perhaps? —Beleg Tâl (talk) 19:52, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

@Alien333 I think I found her!!! Eleanora Littledale Fergusson (b. 1821), children named Eleanora, Minnie, Mary Maud, and Henry. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 20:36, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Wow, good job, that does look a lot like the right match! I'm befuddled, as I took some hours to identify who the heck she is. I even scrolled through all the matches for E L F born in a 20y span in findagrave... Apparently, she ironically doesn't even have a findagrave page. If that is her, which is very likely, we also have this, which gives us enough info for a very complete WD page. Nvm, that was about her daughter of the same name. I'll deal with the page moves, page updating, &c tomorrow morning (or in about 10 hours, accounting for time zones and all). Thanks for the effort! — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 20:58, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

I realized that her daughter's name "Mary Maud F*" was probably specific enough to get a manageable amount of matches, so I searched for matching census records in Scotland born between 1840 and 1860, and it was the first result! —Beleg Tâl (talk) 00:12, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

For future times, where can census data be found? — Alien333 (what I did & why I did it wrong) 09:10, 4 August 2024 (UTC)