Jeannette Walworth

Jeannette Walworth (pen names, Mother Goose and Ann Atom; February 22, 1835 – February 4, 1918) was an American novelist and journalist.[1]

Jeannette Walworth
"A woman of the century"
Born	Jeannette Ritchie Hadermann February 22, 1835 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	February 4, 1918(1918-02-04) (aged 82) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Pen name	Mother Goose, Ann Atom
Occupation	novelist, journalist
Language	English
Nationality	American
Spouse	Douglas Walworth ​ ( m. 1873; died 1915)

Born in Philadelphia, in 1837, she removed to Natchez, Mississippi, while a child, with her father, Charles Julius Hadermann, a German baron, who became the president of Jefferson College. On his death, the family removed to Louisiana. When she was sixteen years old, Walworth became a governess. In 1873, having married Maj. Douglas Walworth, of Natchez, she accompanied him to his plantation in southern Arkansas, and then to Memphis, Tennessee, before finally removing to New York City. In addition to contributions to the periodical press, the Continent, The Commercial Appeal, and other magazines, she published several novels.[2]

Early years and education

Jeannette Ritchie Hadermann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1835. Her father was Charles Julius Hadermann von Winsingen, a German baron and political exile, of Bonn, Prussia. The Baron was a nephew of Count Jean Rapp, created a peer of France by Napoleon Bonaparte for gallantry in battle. He was educated at Heidelberg and at the École Polytechnique in Paris. Political troubles of some nature drove him to the United States. He married, Miss Matilda Norman, of Baltimore by whom he had Jeannette and six other children.[3] By training and inclination he was a military man, and fought with distinction in the Mexican–American War. Circumstances, however, and an excellent education engaged him in teaching. He was at different times professor of languages and mathematics in the University of Virginia, and at Princeton University, Oxford University, and elsewhere.[4] He became president of Jefferson College. The father removed his family to Natchez, Mississippi, where he died, after which, the family moved to Louisiana.[5]

She received a good education and showed great literary talent.[4]

Career

Walworth, who had been carefully educated, became a governess at the age of sixteen.

On December 9, 1873,[4] she married the widower, Major Douglas Walworth, a prominent Southern editor,[6] of Natchez. The Major had five children by his first marriage, and none with his second wife.[4] They lived for a time on his plantation in southern Mississippi, and then moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and finally to New York City.[5]

Walworth contributed many stories to newspapers and periodicals. While writing for the Commercial Appeal, she used the pen name, "Mother Goose",[7] and she also was known by the pen name of "Ann Atom".[8] Before marriage, she published: Forgiven at Last (Philadelphia, 1870); The Silent Witness (1871); Dead Men's Shoes (1872).[7] After marriage, her works included: Heavy Yokes (Boston, 1874); Nobody's Business (New York, 1878); The Bar Sinister (1885); Without Blemish (1885); Alice and Scruples (1886); At Bay (New York, 1887); The New Man at Rossmere (1887); Southern Silhouettes (New York, 1887); True to Herself (New York, 1888); That Girl from Texas (New York, 1888); Splendid Egotist (1889); and The Little Radical (1890).[5]

Becoming widowed in 1915,[9] she removed from New York City, where she had lived for sixteen years, to New Orleans, Louisiana to live with relatives.[10] Walworth died February 4, 1918 in New Orleans.[11][8]

References

1. Blain, Clements & Grundy 1990, p. 1128.
2. Wilson & Fiske 1889, p. 344.
3. University Press of Mississippi 1981, p. 449.
4. Walworth 1897, p. 144.
5. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 746.
6. Peterson 1895, p. 405.
7. Carr 2002, p. 177.
8. "Walworth, Jeannette (Ritchie) Hadermann". HighBeam Research. 1 January 2000. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
9. Kaser 2014, p. 305.
10. Baym 2012, p. 306.
11. Kaser 2014, p. 304.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Peterson, C. J. (1895). The Peterson Magazine. 106 (Public domain ed.). C. J. Peterson.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Walworth, Clarence Augustus (1897). Walworths of America: Comprising Five Chapters of Family History, with Additional Chapters of Genealogy (Public domain ed.). Weed. p. 144.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 746.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John (1889). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (Public domain ed.). D. Appleton.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Bibliography

• Baym, Nina (17 August 2012). Women Writers of the American West, 1833-1927. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07884-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Blain, Virginia; Clements, Patricia; Grundy, Isobel (1990). The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5848-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Carr, Black, Patti (2002). Touring Literary Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-804-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kaser, James A. (29 July 2014). The New Orleans of Fiction: A Research Guide. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-9204-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• University Press of Mississippi (1981). Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817-1967. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-61703-418-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Works by or about Jeannette Walworth at Internet Archive