Woman of the Century/Laura A. Sunderlin Nourse

LAURA A. SUNDERLIN NOURSE.

NOURSE, Mrs. Laura A. Sunderlin, poet, born in Independence, Allegany county, N. Y., 9th April, 1836. She is a daughter of the late Dr. Anthony Barney, one of the pioneers in Allegany county, a man of taste and culture and a successful physician. Laura was the seventh child in a family of thirteen children. She was educated in the public schools of Independence. In 1855 she became the wife of Dr. Samuel Sunderlin, of Potter county, Pa. Two daughters and a son were born to them. They removed to Grand Mound, Iowa, after meeting financial reverses, and there her husband practiced until they removed to Maquoketa, Iowa. In 1881 they removed to Calamus, Iowa, where they lived until her husband's death, in 1886. Mrs. Sunderlin in 1888 became the wife of Dr. William Nourse, of Moline. Ill., and her home is now in that city. In childhood her poetical talents manifested themselves strongly, and some of her earliest verses were printed in the "Christian Ambassador," of Auburn, N. Y. Throughout her life she has continued to write poetry, and her later works show the finish and perfection that come of age and experience. In 1876 she published a volume of her prose and verse, "Pencilings from Immortality. She was a regular contributor to a number of newspapers. Between 1881 and 1886 she contributed a series of important articles on the science of life in the "Liberal Free Press," published in Wheatland, Iowa. She has recently published an important long poem, entitled "Lyric of Life" (Buffalo, 1892).