Margaret Deland
Margaret Deland was an American author and educator born in 1857, who faced significant personal challenges from an early age, including the loss of her mother at birth. Raised by her aunt and uncle near Allegheny, Pennsylvania, she pursued art studies at Cooper Union and became a teacher at Hunter College. In her marriage to Lorin Fuller Deland, the couple became known for their compassion, providing shelter to pregnant, unmarried women during the early 1880s. Deland's literary career began in earnest when her poetry caught the attention of major publications, leading to successful works such as *The Old Garden, and Other Verses* and the novel *John Ward, Preacher*. Throughout her writing, Deland explored complex themes, including marital strife and women's autonomy, though her views on women's rights acknowledged social limitations. She was awarded the Legion of Honor for her humanitarian efforts during World War I and became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Deland continued to reflect on her life and experiences in her memoirs before her death in 1945.
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Subject Terms
Margaret Deland
Novelist
- Born: February 23, 1857
- Birthplace: Near Allegheny, Pennsylvania
- Died: January 13, 1945
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Biography
Margaret Deland was orphaned at an early age. Her mother died during Deland’s birth in 1857. Deland was raised by her mother’s sister, Lois Wade Campbell, and her husband, Benjamin Bakewell Campbell, near Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Deland was sent away to Pelham Priory by her aunt and uncle after she received what they felt was too premature a proposal from a suitor they judged as too old for Deland. In a defining move in 1875, Deland announced she would study at Cooper Union in New York City. Her art studies there lead to a teaching job in 1876 at what later became Hunter College. Deland continued to teach in New York until she married Lorin Fuller Deland in 1880. The couple moved to Boston.
The young pair proved both resourceful and compassionate. They ignored negative reactions from many and sheltered scores of pregnant, unmarried women between 1880 and 1884. Lorin Deland’s family had a successful printing business, and the greeting card verse that Deland wrote for the company caught the attention of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in 1885. In 1886, Deland’s poems were collected in The Old Garden, and Other Verses, and sold well. By 1888, Deland had published John Ward, Preacher, the sales of which enabled the Delands to buy a summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. John Ward, Preacher was successful in part because Deland’s able writing pitted the strict Calvinist beliefs of John Ward against the confident, forgiving, and humanitarian beliefs of his beloved wife. The erosion of John Ward’s marriage was a challenging subject for Deland to tackle, but it showed her inclination to address difficult topics.
The Awakening of Helena Richie, published in 1906, was controversial for its depiction of infidelity. In the book, Helena Richie leaves her alcoholic husband for a man with whom she had an affair. She questions her own social standing and whether or not, in light of her decision to leave her marriage, she could be a fit parent. Deland’s 1911 book The Iron Woman picked up Helena’s story where the earlier book ended. In The Iron Woman, Deland portrayed Helena as a mentor to a couple in an ill-fated marriage.
Deland’s advocacy for women did not extend to every aspect of life. Although she sought more autonomy for herself and created strong female characters in her fiction, Deland tempered the search for increased independence within a context of what she believed were the practical and necessary social forces of marriage and motherhood. Deland’s characters exercise their independence at a social cost. On the subject of women’s rights, Deland favored a form of suffrage that depended on educational and socioeconomic status. Deland was awarded the Legion of Honor for her work providing relief in France during World War I. Deland was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. She published two memoirs, If This Be I, As I Suppose It Be, in 1935, and Golden Yesterdays, in 1941. She died in Boston in 1945.