Woman of the Century/Catherine Maria Sedgwick

SEDGWICK, Miss Catherine Maria, author, born in Stockbridge, Mass., 28th December, 1789, and died near Roxbury, Mass., 31st July, 1867. She was a daughter of Theodore Sedgwick, the well-known lawyer of Boston, Mass. She received a thorough education. Her father died in Boston, 24th January, 1813, and she started the private school for young women, which she continued for fifty years. Tier brothers encouraged her to make use of her literary talents. Her first novel, "A New England Tale," was published anonymously in New York, in 1822. It was favorably received, and she next brought out "Redwood" (two volumes, 1824), also anonymously. It was reprinted in England and translated into French and three other European languages. The French translator attributed: the work to James Fenimore Cooper. She then published "The Traveler" (1825); "Hope Leslie, or Early Times in Massachusetts" (two volumes, 1827): "Clarence, a Tale of Our Own Times" (two volumes, Philadelphia, 1830); "Home" (1836), and "The Lin woods, or Sixty Years Since in America " (two volumes, 1835). In 1835 she issued her collection of "Sketches and Tales," which had been published in various magazines. Her other works include: "The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man" (New York, 1836); "Live and Let Live" (1837); "A Love-Token for Children" and "Means and Ends, or Self-Training" (1838). In 1839 she went to Europe, where she remained a year. Her travels were described in " Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home," which were published in two volumes in 1841. In that year she published "Historical Sketches of the Old Painters" and biographies of the sisters "Lucretia and Margaret Davidson," followed by "Wilton Harvey, and Other Tales" (1845); "Morals of Manners" (1846); "Facts and Fancies" (1848), and "Married or Single?" (1857). In addition to her school and novel work, she edited and contributed to literary periodicals and wrote for the annuals. Her work in these lines fills several large volumes.