Woman of the Century/Mary Galentine Fenner

MARY GALENTINE FENNER. FENNER, Mrs. Mary Galentine, author, born in Rush, Monroe county, N. Y., 17th May, 1839 Her grandparents were among the first settlers of the Genesee Valley and traced their lineage back to sturdy Hollanders. From the time of reaching his majority, her father, John Galentine, occupied a prominent place in his native town. At a very early age Mrs. Fenner wrote for the "Rural New Yorker." She was educated in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y., where she was graduated in 1861, one month before her marriage to Rev. F. D. Fenner. a graduate of Rochester University. Among her school essays are several written in blank verse, but she never gave the full expression of her thought in a satisfactory manner to herself until the revelation of her power of poesy came to her at a time of weakness and suffering. Her first published poem, "In Memoriam," dedicated to her mother on the anniversary of her father's death, in 1873. was written while she could not raise her head from her pillow. She then became a prolific versifier. Her home is now in North Manlius. N. Y., where, among people of her husband's parish, she finds her most delightful work. She has published one volume of poems.