Julia A. A. Wood

Julia A. A. Wood (pen name, Minnie Mary Lee; April 13, 1826/1830 – 1903) was an American author. She was an indefatigable worker, and produced an astonishing amount of poems, stories, sketches and novels. She began writing very early in life, but did not publish in book form until she was in her forties. Myrrha Lake; or, Into the Light of Catholicity (New York, about 1871; 2nd edition, 1873); Hubert's Wife: a Story for You (Baltimore, 1875); The Brown House at Duffield: a Story of Life without and within the Fold (Baltimore, 1877); and The Story of Annette and her Five Dolls: Told to dear little Catholic Children (Baltimore, 1880) were her published works.[1]

Julia A. A. Wood, "A woman of the century"

Early life and education

Julia Amanda Sargent was born in New London, New Hampshire, April 13, 1826,[2] or in 1830,[1] or about 1830.[3] She was a daughter of Ezekiel Sargent and his wife, Emily Everett Adams.[2]

She was educated in the New London Literary and Scientific Institution, Colby Academy, and later was for some time pupil in a seminary in Boston.[2]

Career

Her parents removing to Covington, Kentucky, she was not long afterwards married to William Henry Wood, a practicing lawyer of Greensburg, Kentucky; this was in 1849. Two years later, they removed to Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River, being the capital and intellectual center of the commonwealth of Minnesota at that time.[4] The following year, William received the appointment of government Land Receiver.[1] William was a person of literary tastes and ability as a writer and orator.[5] In 1860, the Woods edited a weekly dnewspaper calle, The New Era.[1][3] William died in 1870.[5]

Wood was widely known by her pen name, "Minnie Mary Lee."[4] She wrote serial tales and shorter stories for the Catholic Times and Opinion and for the Catholic Fireside, both published in Liverpool, England.[5] Wood contributed generously to East Coast ladies' magazines like Arthur's[3] and Godey's Lady's Book, and Jane Swisshelm's paper, The St. Cloud Visitor.[1] She was at different times in editorial work, including with her son, conducting the Sauk Rapids Free Press.[5]

Wood became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith, and wrote several novels more or less advocating the claims of that faith. Among them were Heart of Myrhaa Lake (New York City, 1872), Hubert's Wife (Baltimore, 1873), Brown House at Duffield (1874), Strayed from the Fold (1878), Story of Annette (1878), Three Times Three (1879), and From Error to Truth (New York, 1890). She served as postmaster of Sauk Rapids for four years under the Grover Cleveland administration.

Personal life

Wood did not support the movement for woman's rights and woman suffrage. She believed that woman should work towards suppression of the divorce laws.[5]

Three of Wood's children lived to adulthood, including two sons, both of them journalists, and a daughter;[5] her first-born child died at age three.[3] She died in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1903.[6] Jeris Folk Cassel published a biography of her life in 1991.[7]

Selected works
The Brown House at Duffield, A Story of Life Without and Within the Fold (1876)
Basil, Beatrice, Ethel, Or, Three-times-three, An Interesting Story of Real Life (1883)
  • Myrrha Lake; or, Into the Light of Catholicity (New York, about 1871; 2nd edition, 1873)
  • Hubert's Wife: a Story for You (Baltimore, 1875)
  • The Brown House at Duffield: a Story of Life without and within the Fold (Baltimore, 1877)
  • Virginia cotillions (musical score, 1877)
  • Strayed from the Fold (1878)
  • Basil, Beatrice, Ethel, Or, Three-times-three, An Interesting Story of Real Life (1879)
  • The Story of Annette and her Five Dolls: Told to dear little Catholic Children (Baltimore, 1880)
  • My northern travels : the results of faith and prayer : based upon a tour of nine months through Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada : with the author's autobiography (1887)
  • From Error to Truth (New York, 1890)

References

Citations
  1. Menil 1904, p. 166.
  2. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 795.
  3. Coggeshall 1860, p. 610.
  4. Brigham 1894, p. 167.
  5. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 796.
  6. Upham & Dunlap 1912, p. 877.
  7. Cassel 1991, p. 1.

Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brigham, Johnson (1894). The Midland Monthly (Public domain ed.). Johnson Brigham.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Coggeshall, William Turner (1860). The Poets and Poetry of the West: With Biographical and Critical Notices (Public domain ed.). Follett, Foster. p. 610.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Menil, Alexander Nicolas De (1904). The Literature of the Louisiana Territory (Public domain ed.). St. Louis News Company. p. 166.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Upham, Warren; Dunlap, Rose Barteau (1912). Minnesota Historical Society Collections. XIV (Public domain ed.). Minnesota Historical Society.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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Bibliography
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