Clara Augusta Jones Trask

Clara Augusta Jones Trask
Born Clara Augusta Jones
(1839-06-22)June 22, 1839
Farmington, New Hampshire, US
Died (1905-01-02)January 2, 1905
Pen name Clara Augusta; Hero Strong
Spouse Elbridge S. Trask


Clara Augusta Jones Trask (pen names, Clara Augusta and Hero Strong; June 22, 1839 - January 2, 1905) was a popular 19th-century American writer from New Hampshire, with several hundred titles to her credit. A dime novelist,[1] she wrote in a variety of genres and styles.[2] In the 1895 edition of the Granite Monthly it was said that, "It is doubtful if any woman contributor to current periodicals has received larger returns for her work than has Mrs. Clara Augusta Trask, with the exception of those who own royalties on plays."[3]

Early years and education

Clara Augusta Jones was born June 22, 1839,[4] in Farmington, New Hampshire, within a half mile of the childhood home of Vice-President Henry Wilson, and was the daughter of Jeremiah Jones, and the former Tamson Roberts. Her grandmother on her father's side was the accomplished daughter of Col. Ichabod Crane, an officer in the British army, and a lineal descendant of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Her maternal grandfather served in the Revolutionary War.[5]

Career

Winifred Winthrop, Or, The Lady of Atherton Hall
Patience Pettigrew's Perplexities

Trask's first published article appeared when she was 13 years of age, and thereafter she wrote continuously, for newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. Perhaps her best known articles were the "Kate Thorn" papers and essays, which were copied widely, as well as translated into several languages for use in foreign periodicals. The Lippincotts of Philadelphia published a volume of her poems, and she was the author of several humorous books, the most noted of which was The Adventures of a Bashful Bachelor.[5]

Her poems, sketches, and serials appeared in Arthur's Home Magazine, Ballou's Literary Companion, Monthly, and Pictorial, Banner Weekly, Dollar Newspaper (Philadelphia), Gleason's, Golden Days, Graham's Illustrated Magazine, The Granite Monthly, The Hearthstone, Lady's Friend, Leslie's Monthly, The New York Weekly, Our Boys and Girls, Peterson's Magazine, Saturday Journal, and Saturday Night. In the 1870s, she had a column in the New York Weekly.[4] She wrote using the pen names Clara Augusta and Hero Strong.[6]

Personal life

She married Elbridge S. Trask, and resided in Framingham Centre, Massachusetts, in one of the old historic mansions of that town. She was a member of the New England Woman's Press Association, of the Daughters of New Hampshire, of the Gen. J. G. Foster W. R. C., of the Framingham Woman's Club, and was a well-known worker in the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.[5] She died January 2, 1905.[4]

Selected works

as Clara Augusta Jones Trask, Clara Augusta Jones, or Clara Augusta
  • Fatal Glove
  • Winifred Winthrop, or, The lady of Atherton Hall, 1882
  • The Parson's Secret Sin, "The Plaindealer: Selected Short Stories", 1890–1893
  • Patience Pettigrew's perplexities. Being a veracious history of the experiences of Patience Pettigrew, relict of the late lamented Josiah Pettigrew, esq. ..., 1890
  • The adventures of a bashful bachelor : a humorous story, 1890
as Hero Strong
  • Born to command, or, The mistress of Hillmere, 1893
  • Found dead, or, The Charles River mystery, 1892
  • A beautiful womans sin; or, The scarred arm, 1890
  • Yates' Ranch (Savannah Tribune: Selected Short Stories, 1906-1909)

References

  1. ↑ "Clara Trask". American Women's Dime Novel Project. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  2. ↑ Gibson 2014, p. 35.
  3. ↑ Granite Monthly 1895, p. 27.
  4. 1 2 3 "Trask, Clara Augusta Jones". Northern Illinois University. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Metcalf 1895, p. 239.
  6. ↑ Gibson 2014, p. 40.

Attribution

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Granite Monthly (1895). Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine. XIX, Number 1 (Public domain ed.). Concord, New Hampshire: Granite Monthly.
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Metcalf, Henry Harrison (1895). New Hampshire women: a collection of portraits and biographical sketches of daughters and residents of the Granite State, who are worthy representatives of their sex in the various walks and conditions of life (Public domain ed.). New Hampshire Publishing Company.

Biography

  • Gibson, Mary (30 August 2014). "Hero Strong" and Other Stories: Tales of Girlhood Ambition, Female Masculinity, and Women's Worldly Achievement in Antebellum America. University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1-62190-051-1.
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