Woman of the Century/Flora Haines Longhead

LOUGHEAD, Mrs. Flora Haines, author, whose maiden name was Flora Haines, born in FLORA HAINES LOUGHEAD. Milwaukee, Wis., 12th July, 1855. Roth her parents were natives of Maine. She attended school in Columbus, Wis., and in Lincoln, Ill., graduating from Lincoln University in June, 1872, with the degree of A. B. Her literary career has been a quickly successful one. When fifteen years old, and a very busy school-girl, the desire came over her to write a story. She wrote it by stealth and sent it to the "Aldine." The editor, Richard Henry Stoddard, returned the manuscript to her, suggesting that she would do well to try her story in the Harper and Appleton periodicals, as the "Aldine" had accepted manuscript enough for two or three years. The manuscript and letter went to the bottom of her trunk and were hidden there for years. She came to a serious and care-laden womanhood before she began to see the encouragement the editor's words contained and to appreciate their consideration. She began to write stories in earnest in 1883. Mrs. Loughead's newspaper work began in 1873 on the Chicago "Inter-Ocean." In 1874 and 1875 she was on several of the Denver newspapers. While there, she became acquainted with Helen Hunt Jackson, who was afterwards one of her most intimate friends. During Mrs. Jackson's fatal illness Mrs. Loughead was in daily attendance to the end. Between 1878 and 1882, and again from 1884 to 1886, she supported herself by writing for the San Francisco dailies on space- work. She published a number of excellent short stories in the "Ingleside," the "San Franciscan." the "Argonaut," "Drake's Magazine," the Chicago "Current " and the "Overland Monthly." She now does a good deal for the syndicates, has occasional correspondence in the New York " Post," and works upon her books. The first volume she published was a valuable work upon " The Libraries of California" (San Francisco, 1878). It is now out of print and marked "rare" in catalogues. Her first novel. "The Man Who Was Guilty," after giving her some local reputation, was taken up by a Boston house in 1886, and has had a steady sale ever since. She wrote, in 1886, a practical "Hand-Book of Natural Science," which the "San Franciscan " issued. In 1889 she published a housekeeper's book on "Quick Cooking." She has written a California story, "The Abandoned Claim," published in 1891 and has edited a volume of "Hebrew Folk-Lore Tales." She became the wife of John Longhead in February, 1886. She is the mother of five children. Her home is in Santa Barbara, Cal.