Constance Fenimore Woolson
Constance Fenimore Woolson was an American author born on March 5, 1840, in Claremont, New Hampshire. She was raised in a family of privilege, which allowed her to focus on her education and later pursue writing as a profession after the death of her father in 1869. Woolson is known for her regional literature, particularly focused on the lake regions of Wisconsin, Ohio, and the southern United States, reflecting her deep connection to these areas from her childhood. Throughout her career, she contributed numerous short stories and poems to well-known magazines such as Harper's Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly, and published notable works like "The Old Stone House" and "Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches."
After her mother's death in 1879, Woolson spent much of her life in Europe, particularly in England, France, and Italy, where she continued to produce a significant body of work, including five novels and several collections of short stories. Her novels often featured settings in the American South and northern lake regions, showcasing her ability to depict the complexities of both American and European cultures. Woolson passed away on January 24, 1894, in Venice, Italy. Although her contributions to American literature have sometimes been overlooked, her skill in capturing the essence of place and character has left a lasting impact.
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Subject Terms
Constance Fenimore Woolson
Writer
- Born: March 5, 1840
- Birthplace: Claremont, New Hampshire
- Died: January 24, 1894
- Place of death: Venice, Italy
Biography
Constance Fenimore Woolson was born on March 5, 1840, in Claremont, New Hampshire, to Charles Jarvis and Hannah Cooper (Pomeroy) Woolson. She was the youngest of six daughters and the great-niece of James Fenimore Cooper. When she was very young, her family relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where her father started a successful business. Constance attended Miss Hayden’s School and the Cleveland Seminary. She graduated from Madame Chegary’s School in New York at the top of her class.
Woolson lived a life of privilege, having to work only during the Civil War, when she oversaw a post office in a sanitary fair. Her circumstances changed upon her father’s death in 1869, and she began focusing on her writing, which had previously been a hobby, as a way of earning a living.
Woolson traveled extensively along the Atlantic coastline with her mother and sister during the early 1870’s, settling in both the Carolinas and St. Augustine, Florida. After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson traveled to Europe, where she would spend the rest of her life living between England, France, and Italy.
Much of Woolson’s writings focused on the lake region around Wisconsin, Ohio, and Mackinac Island. Woolson had spent much of her childhood traveling through these areas with her father, and developed a deep knowledge and love for the region. This love came through in her regional literature, which was a popular genre of the era. She submitted and contributed several short stories and poems to magazines and journals such as Harper’s Magazine, The Galaxy, Lippincott’s Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly, before publishing The Old Stone House (1873) under the pseudonym of Anne March. The autobiography details her childhood in Cleveland. She went on to publish a collection of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches (1875), which also featured her beloved lake region and upbringing.
Woolson’s time in the Carolinas and Florida became invaluable to her writing. She made a living by writing short stories for a variety of magazines detailing southern life. The best of her chronicles was published in a collection called Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880).
Woolson’s stay in Europe was an extremely prolific period of her life: She published five novels, two short-story collections, a travel volume, and numerous stories and poems that appeared in American magazines and journals. Although she was living abroad, her five novels Anne (1880), For the Major (1883), East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889), and Horace Chase (1894) are all regional novels set in the South and the northern lake region of her youth. The short-story collections The Front Yard, and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy, and Other Italian Stories (1896) both feature tales of Americans traveling and living abroad. The stories take place in European settings with Americans placed within cultures far older than their own.
Constance Fenimore Cooper died January 24, 1894, in Venice, Italy, after fighting a serious illness. Her death was first reported as a suicide, but the claim was retracted two days later. Although frequently overlooked, Woolson’s ability to capture a region and its people made a tremendous contribution to American literature.