Laura Jacinta Rittenhouse

Laura Jacinta Rittenhouse (April 30, 1841 – July 11, 1911) was an American temperance activist, juvenile literature author, poet, businesswoman, and club-woman. She was the author of the poem, "Out of the Depths".[1]

Laura Jacinta Rittenhouse
"A woman of the century"
BornLaura Jacinta Arter
April 30, 1841
Grand Chain, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJuly 11, 1911(1911-07-11) (aged 70)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting placeCairo City Cemetery, in Villa Ridge, Illinois
Occupationactivist, author, poet, business woman, club-woman
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Notable works"Out of the Depths"
Spouse
Wood Rittenhouse
(m. 1863; died 1896)
Children4

Early years and education

Laura Jacinta Arter was born in Grand Chain,[1] Pulaski County, Illinois, near the Ohio River, April 30, 1841. She was a daughter of Dr. Daniel Arter. From her parents she inherited her tastes and talent for literature. Her education was received in the schools of the sparsely-settled county, but she supplemented her deficient schooling by earnest self-culture and wide reading.[2][3]

Career

In Pulaski County, December 31, 1863, she married Wood Rittenhouse (born 1835–1896),[4] a prominent business man of Cairo, Illinois. Their family included one daughter and four sons: Isabella Maud, Wood Arter, Harry H., Fred M. and Robin C. Rittenhouse.[4] After her marriage, for many years, Rittenhouse was able to spare little time for literary work, but during the early 1890s, she was a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers. Her best work was done in her short stories. She was a skillful writer of plots, and all her stories were carefully worked out to their logical ending.[2][3]

For years, her interests were given to the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and for that body, she toiled and wrote unceasingly.[3] She was the first president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Cairo, serving in that office for many years. She was elected district president of that organization for four consecutive years, and for five years, she also served as district treasurer. She was secretary of the Social Science Association in Cairo. She served as secretary of the Centennial Association in Cairo, and also as secretary of the Cairo Protestant Orphan Asylum, besides acting as manager of the asylum for many years. She served a year as secretary of the Cairo Women's Library Club. For three years, she was president of the Presbyterian Woman's Aid Society in Cairo. She was one of the vice-presidents of the Red Cross Society in Cairo.[2]

Rittenhouse died on July 11, 1911, in Chicago, Illinois. She was buried at Cairo City Cemetery, in Villa Ridge, Illinois.

References
  1. Herringshaw 1914, p. 20.
  2. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 612.
  3. Moulton 1890, p. 60-62.
  4. Perrin 1883, p. 39.

Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits ... (Public domain ed.). American Publishers' Association. p. 20.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moulton, Charles Wells (1890). "aura Jacinta Rittenhouse by M. B. Harrell". The Magazine of Poetry and Literary Review. 2 (Public domain ed.).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Perrin, William Henry (1883). History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois (Public domain ed.). Higginson Book Company.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. p. 612.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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