Isabella Macdonald Alden

Isabella Macdonald Alden
Isabella Macdonald Alden
Born Isabella Macdonald
November 3, 1841
Rochester, New York, U.S.
Died August 5, 1930
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Resting place Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Pen name Pansy
Occupation author
Language English
Spouse
Gustavus Rossenberg Alden (m. 1866)
Children Raymond Macdonald Alden (son)

Isabella Macdonald Alden (pen name, Pansy; November 3, 1841 – August 5, 1930) was an American author.

Her first book, Helen Lester, written for a contest, was at the age of 20. She wrote approximately 75 Sunday school books, and a number of volumes of fiction for older readers, as well as The Prince of Peace, a life of Christ. She wrote on the subjects of love to God and love to her fellow-men. Alden dedicated her work to the advancement of the Christian religion in the home life and in the business life. She served as president of the Missionary Society, superintendent of the primary department of the Sunday School, identified with the Chautauqua assemblies, and prepared the Sunday School lessons for the "Westminster Teacher". Her works were translated into Swedish, French, Japanese, and Armenian. Alden edited the Juvenile periodical Pansy, 1873-96. For many years, she was a contributor to Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, and Christian Endeavor World, Boston, besides the Primary Quarterly.[1] She made her home in Palo Alto, California.[2]

Her best known works were: Four Girls at Chautauqua, Chautauqua Girls at Home, Tip Lewis and his Lamp, Three People, Links in Rebecca's Life, Julia Reid, Ruth Erskine's Crosses, The King's Daughter, The Browning Boys, From Different Standpoints, Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening, The Measure, and Spun from Fact.[3]

Background

Isabella Macdonald was born in Rochester, New York to well-educated parents, Isaac and Myra Spafford Macdonald.[2] The father was a temperance man with pronounced convictions upon subjects regarding social reform, as well as an abolitionist because he believed slavery to be a sin. The mother was devoted to everything that was "pure and of good report."[4] The sixth of seven children, she was initially home-schooled by her father, who also gave her the nickname Pansy, because of an incident that occurred in her childhood. Her mother had taken great pride in a bed of pansy blossoms. The child, seeing the flowers, and thinking there was no one more deserving of them than her mother, pulled them and threw them into her mother's lap exclaiming, "I pulled every one for you." She could not understand her mother's look of distress. The father, seeing the disappointed look on the little girl's face, picked her up, seated her on his shoulder and said, "Never mind, baby, you shall always be my little pansy-blossom."[5]

She developed her writing skills early: as a child, she kept a daily journal which her father critiqued. The letters she wrote to absent family members formed a habit of expressing her thoughts which proved to be useful in her career. When she was ten years old she wrote the story of the clock entitle Our Old Clock. The father said the story must be printed in order to preserve it, and that she might sign her pet name "Pansy" to it. The child was delighted to see something of her own writing in print.[5] She was educated at Seneca Collegiate Institute, Ovid, New York, and Young Ladles' Institute, Auburn, New York.[2]

Marriage

She met Reverend Gustavus Rossenberg Alden while teaching at Oneida Seminary in New York. His work took the couple to various parts of the country, including Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. After their marriage in 1866,[6][2] Alden divided her time among writing, participating in church activities, teaching at several of the Chautauqua sessions, and raising her son, Raymond Macdonald Alden, who was born in 1873. By 1900, the family had three residences: a home in Philadelphia; a summer residence in Chautauqua, New York; and a winter home in Winter Park, Florida.

Literary works

The Pansy (June 1894)

Throughout her life, Isabella Alden combined her writing and her religion. She did much work with Christian periodicals, writing serialized stories for the Herald and Presbyter from about 1870 until 1900; editing The Pansy, a Sunday juvenile, from 1874 to 1896; editing the Primary Quarterly and producing the primary-grade Sunday School lessons for the Westminster Teacher for 20 years; and working on the editorial staff of Trained Motherhood and The Christian Endeavor World.

From 1865 to 1929, Alden authored about 100 books. Most of her works are didactic fiction heavily salted with religious principles, which concentrate on translating Biblical precepts into acceptable Christian behavior in a modern world. Several of her books, such as her most popular work Ester Ried, were based on personal experiences; others, such as the Chautauqua Girls series, were motivated by her interest in the Chautauqua movement. She and her niece, Grace Livingston Hill, even make a brief appearance in the final chapter of the series' last book, Four Mothers at Chatauqua.

Alden's books were enormously popular during the late 19th century; in 1900, sales were estimated at around 100,000 copies annually. Some titles like Ester Ried, were translated into several languages, including French, German, Russian, and Japanese.

Later years

After the deaths of her husband and son in 1924, Alden moved to Palo Alto, California to live with her daughter-in-law. She continued writing until shortly before her death on August 5, 1930; the unfinished autobiography she left, Memories of Yesterday, was completed and edited by her niece, Grace Livingston Hill.

In the 1990s, edited and abridged editions of some Alden's works appeared in two series issued by Christian publishers, The Pansy Collection, published by Creation Books, and the Grace Livingston Hill Library, published by Living Books.

Selected work

Ester Ried series:

  • Ester Ried: Asleep and Awake (1870)
  • Julia Ried: Listening and Led (1872)
  • The King's Daughter (1873)
  • Wise and Otherwise (1873)
  • Ester Ried Yet Speaking (1883)
  • Ester Ried's Namesake (1906)

Chautauqua Girls series:

  • Four Girls at Chautauqua (1876)
  • The Chautauqua Girls at Home (1877)
  • Ruth Erskine's Crosses (1879)
  • Judge Burnham's Daughters (1888)
  • Workers Together, or, An Endless Chain
  • Ruth Erskine's Son (1907)
  • Four Mothers at Chautauqua (1913)

Paired Books:

  • Chrissy's Endeavor & Her Associate Members
  • Household Puzzles & The Randolphs
  • Aunt Hannah and Martha and John & John Remington, Martyr

Others:

  • The Man of the House
  • Mag & Margaret
  • Little Fishers and Their Nets
  • Interrupted (Out in the World)
  • Divers Women
  • Tip Lewis and His Lamp
  • Three People (1871)
  • Eighty-Seven (1887)
  • The Hall in the Grove (1882)
  • Links in Rebecca's Life (1878)
  • From Different Standpoints (1878)
  • Memories of Yesterday

References

Attribution

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1908). Who's who in America. Marquis Who's Who.
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rutherford, Mildred Lewis (1894). American Authors: A Hand-book of American Literature from Early Colonial to Living Writers (Public domain ed.). Franklin printing and publishing Company.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "article name needed". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

Bibliography

  • Coyle, William (1962). Ohio Authors and Their Books: Biographical Data and Selective Bibliographies for Ohio Authors, Native and Resident, 1796-1950. World Publishing Company.
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