Woman of the Century/Helen Lewis Bucknor

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2251301Woman of the Century — Helen Lewis Bucknor

HELEN LEWIS BUCKNOR. BUCKNOR, Mrs. Helen Lewis, author, born in New York City, 10th October, 1838. She is of Revolutionary ancestry and New England parentage. Her maiden name was Lew is. Upon the father's side she is descended from the Lewises and Tomlinsons of Stratford. Conn. On the mother's side she is descended from the Spragues and Ketchums. of Connecticut originally, but afterward of Long Island. Her grandfather Sprague settled in early times in New York City as a merchant. Her father died when she was a child, and, as she was very delicate, it was decided that she should be brought up in the South by an uncle, the brother of her mother, who had married and settled near Natchez. Miss. Her school life was passed there. In her early girlhood she went to the Northwest as a teacher, maintaining herself until the war broke out, when she returned to her southern home and to new and sad experiences. Soon after the close of the war she was married to W. F. Bucknor, of New York City. It was her husband's misfortune to have inherited a large tract of pine lands in Florida. In 1870 he with his wife removed to that State. They were unfitted to endure the privations and discouragements of a pioneer life in that devastated country at that period, and, holding, as they did. strong Republican principles, their experiences were sometimes thrilling in the extreme. Mamable articles were published in the press from their ready pens. Mrs. Bucknor's articles of advice to Florida women, who, like herself, were making strenuous efforts to help their husbands to secure homes in that State, were market! by strength and good sense. The Toledo "Blade," the "Home Journal " and other periodicals published her articles. She is possessed of poetic talent, but excels in sharp, pithy, truthful sketches of human nature as she finds it. She is an earnest worker among the King's Daughters and is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She now lives in St. Augustine, Fla., and is a member of the Flagler Memorial Church in that city.