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Sherwood Bonner

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Sherwood Bonner

Katherine[1] Sherwood Bonner McDowell (February 26, 1849 – July 22, 1883), known by her pen name Sherwood Bonner, was an American author and feminist activist during the Gilded Age.

Early life

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Bonner was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on February 26, 1849.[2][3] Her father, an Irish immigrant, married the daughter of a wealthy plantation family during the antebellum period. However, the Bonner family's home was occupied by Union soldiers during the American Civil War.[4][5]

According to Bonner's scrapbook, her first story, "Laura Capello: A Leaf from A Traveller’s Note Book", was published in the Boston Ploughman when she was 15 years old.[3] However, Anne Razey Gowdy's edited edition of one of Bonner's samples states that the story wasn't published until 1869, shortly before Bonner turned 20.[6]

At age 21, Bonner married Edward McDowell on February 14, 1871.[4][7] Following their marriage, Bonner relocated with her new husband to Texas, and she gave birth to a daughter, Lilian, on December 10.[2][4][7] McDowell, however, was unable to support his wife financially, and Bonner moved back to Holly Springs with her daughter.[4][8] In September of 1873, Bonner left her daughter in her mother-in-law's care and took a train to Boston, calling upon her acquaintance Nahum Capen to help her enroll in a local school.[4][9][10]

Literary career

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Capen employed her as his secretary while he worked on the History of Democracy.[5] She then began working as a secretary to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[11] Under Capen and Longfellow's sponsorship, Bonner began publishing stories in Harper’s Young People, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Youth’s Companion.[11] Longfellow became Bonner's lifelong patron.[2]

Bonner was Longfellow's editorial assistant on Poems of Places.[4] In 1876, Bonner toured England and Europe with novelist Louise Chandler Moulton and wrote travel articles published in the Boston Times and the Memphis Avalanche.[4] With Longfellow's support, Bonner published her only novel, Like unto Like, in 1878.[4][12]

Literary styles

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Bonner was known for her articles that discussed local stories.[4][13] Many of her stories focused on her "gran'mammy", a character based on the woman who cared for Bonner as a child.[3] Like unto Like is Bonner's only novel and is considered to be semi-autobiographical.[14][15]

Later life

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In 1878, Bonner's father and brother were infected with yellow fever.[2][16] She returned to her hometown and removed her daughter from her family home to a safe environment before returning to nurse her father and brother. However, they eventually died from the infection.[16]

Bonner established residency in Illinois and divorced Edward McDowell in 1881. Also in 1881, Bonner was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and was told she had only a year to live.[5] Bonner hid her illness from all but her closest friends. Bonner was dictating a novel until four days before she died at age 34 in Holly Springs on July 22, 1883.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Sometimes transcribed as Catherine or Katharine
  2. ^ a b c d Ference, Audrey (April 11, 2018). "Cedarhurst Is a Southern Gothic Dream in Mississippi for Just $272K". seattlepi.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Bondurant, Alexander Lee (1899). Sherwood Bonner, Her Life and Place in the Literature of the South. p. 45.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i McDowell, Katherine Sherwood Bonner (2000). A Sherwood Bonner Sampler, 1869-1884: What a Bright, Educated, Witty, Lively, Snappy Young Woman Can Say on a Variety of Topics. Univ. of Tennessee Press. pp. xiv–xxxv. ISBN 978-1-57233-067-2.
  5. ^ a b c Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 1981. pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-1-61703-418-3.
  6. ^ McDowell, Katherine Sherwood Bonner (2000). A Sherwood Bonner Sampler, 1869-1884: What a Bright, Educated, Witty, Lively, Snappy Young Woman Can Say on a Variety of Topics. Univ. of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-57233-067-2.
  7. ^ a b Bondurant, Alexander Lee (1899). Sherwood Bonner, Her Life and Place in the Literature of the South. pp. 47–48.
  8. ^ Bondurant, Alexander Lee (1899). Sherwood Bonner, Her Life and Place in the Literature of the South. pp. 47–48.
  9. ^ WILLIAMS, SUSAN S. (2008). "Forwarding Literary Interests: James Redpath and the Authorial Careers of Marion Harland, Louisa May Alcott, and Sherwood Bonner". Legacy. 25 (2): 262–274. doi:10.1353/leg.0.0039. JSTOR 25679659. S2CID 144776207.
  10. ^ "Sherwood Bonner achieved early fame". Newspapers.com. June 8, 1986. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 1981. pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-1-61703-418-3.
  12. ^ Ewell, Barbara C.; Menke, Pamela Glenn; Humphrey, Andrea (2002). Southern Local Color: Stories of Region, Race, and Gender. University of Georgia Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-8203-2317-6.
  13. ^ Bonner, Sherwood (1990). Dialect Tales and Other Stories. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. xix. ISBN 978-0-8084-0427-9.
  14. ^ American National Biography, February 1, 2000
  15. ^ Bonner, Sherwood (1990). Frank, William (ed.). Dialect Tales and Other Stories. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. xviii. ISBN 978-0-8084-0427-9.
  16. ^ a b c "Sherwood Bonner". Newspapers.com. August 11, 1883. Retrieved October 25, 2021.

Sources

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  • McAlexander, Hubert Horton, The Prodigal Daughter: A Biography of Sherwood Bonner (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1981).
  • Frank, William, L., Sherwood Bonner (Catherine McDowell), (Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1976).
  • Frank, William, L., "Sherwood Bonner" in American National Biography Online database.
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