Ella Cheever Thayer

Ella Cheever Thayer (September 14, 1849 – October 28, 1925) was an American playwright and novelist. Born in Maine, she worked as a telegraph operator and published several works in her lifetime.

Ella Cheever Thayer
Born(1849-09-14)September 14, 1849
Portland, Cumberland County Maine, United States
DiedOctober 28, 1925(1925-10-28) (aged 76)
149 West Canton Street, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
OccupationNovelist
Playwright
Telegraphist
NationalityAmerican
Period1879–1897
GenreFiction
SubjectRomance
Literary movementSuffragette

Biography

She was the daughter of apothecary George Augusta Thayer (October 19, 1824 – December 13, 1863) and Rachel Ella Cheever Thayer (October 18, 1823 - May 15, 1907). One sister, Mary Georgie Thayer (October 9, 1869 – March 30, 1912), was a school teacher. Thayer eventually became a telegraph operator[1] at the Brunswick Hotel[2] in Boston, Massachusetts, who used her experience on the telegraph as the basis for her book Wired Love, A Romance of Dots and Dashes,[3] which became a bestseller for 10 years.[4]

She was also a playwright, having written The Lords of Creation[5] in 1883. Her play is reviewed in the book On to Victory: Propaganda Plays of the Woman's Suffrage Movement by Bettina Friedl, published in 1990 (ISBN 1-55553-073-7) and it was one of the first suffragette plays.[6]

She also wrote Amber, a Daughter of Bohemia,[7] a drama in five acts, in 1883. She also wrote short stories for magazines including "The Forgotten Past" in Argosy (January 1897).

Later life and death

She lived in Saugus, Massachusetts.[8] Thayer died of liver cancer; her ashes were placed on November 1, 1925 in Bigelow Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

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References
  1. Jackson, Maggie (December 19, 2004). "Balancing Acts". The Boston Globe.
  2. Collins, Paul. "Love on a Wire". Uncollected Paul Collins. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  3. "Book Reference". Library of Congress Book lists. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  4. Jepsen, Thomas C. "Women Telegraphers and the Railroad in Pennsylvania". Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  5. wjkennaugh (February 2, 2008). "Wired Love – A Romance of Dots and Dashes – Ella Cheever Thayer". No Link Left Unclicked (Blog). wordpress.com.
  6. "Suffragist Plays". Answers.com. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  7. Library of Congress, Copyright Office (1918). "Dramatic compositions copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916 .. (Volume 1)". Government Printing Office. p. 10.
  8. Robinson, E.P. "Sketch of Saugus" (PDF). The Bay State Monthly.
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