Page:Women of distinction.djvu/260

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WOMEN OF DISTINCTION.

She resigned and took a clerkship in the Treasury department. While thus engaged she again wrote articles and verses for the papers, the Christian Register, of Boston, especially. In 1878 she was married to Rev. Francis J. Grimkee, pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, of Washington, D. C. After a service of nearly eight years here Rev. Grimkee resigned on account of poor health, and accepted a call to the Presbyterian church in Jacksonville, Fla. He remained there (she with him) for about three years, and being much improved in health he accepted an urgent recall to his former charge in Washington, D. C., where he still resides. Her life in the District has not been an eventful one, much of her time being spent in church work, and therefore she has not done as much literary work as she had hoped to do. She sometimes tries to find some consolation in the thought that possibly this is why her long-cherished dreams of becoming an authoress have never been fully realized. Few Afro-American women have been more useful than Mrs. Grimkee.

She was faithful to the race when faithful friends were few and much needed. She came to the front in those dark days when it tried every nerve to the uttermost for one to be an aggressive defender of the rights of an oppressed people. Mr. G. W. Williams, the historian, says of her:

She comes of one of the best colored families of the State. * * *
She proved to be a student of more than usual application. * * *
She wrote both prose and poetry, and did admirably in each.