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Catharine Maria Sedgwick

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Catharine Maria Sedgwick (December 28, 1789 – July 31, 1867) was an American novelist of what is sometimes referred to as "domestic fiction". With her work much in demand, from the 1820s to the 1850s, Sedgwick made a good living writing short stories for a variety of periodicals. She became one of the most notable female novelists of her time. She wrote work in American settings, and combined patriotism with protests against historic Puritan oppressiveness. Her topics contributed to the creation of a national literature, enhanced by her detailed descriptions of nature. Sedgwick created spirited heroines who did not conform to the stereotypical conduct of women at the time. She promoted Republican motherhood.

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Early life and education

The Sedgwick home at Stockbridge.
Catharine Maria Sedgwick was born December 28, 1789, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Her mother was Pamela Dwight (1752–1807) of the New England Dwight family, daughter of General Joseph Dwight (1703–1765) and granddaughter of Ephraim Williams, founder of Williams College. Her father was Theodore Sedgwick (1746–1813), a prosperous lawyer and successful politician. He was later elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and in 1802, was appointed a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Sedgwick's four brothers were educated for the law: they naturally followed the profession in which their father, Judge Sedgwick, had been eminent, yet not one of them followed him in the political career in which he had been equally distinguished. The eldest, Theodore, practiced law in Albany; Harry and Robert, in New York; Charles, the youngest, in his home town. Her talents seem to have been from the first justly appreciated by her brothers, Henry and Theodore, whose judicious encouragement was acknowledged in the preface to a new edition of her works in 1849.

As a child, Sedgwick was cared for by Elizabeth Freeman (aka Mumbet), a former slave whose freedom Theodore Sedgwick helped gain by arguing her case in county court in 1781. After winning her freedom Freeman declined her previous owner's job offer, and instead accepted a job working for the Sedgwick family.

In her autobiography, Sedgwick refers to Elizabeth Freeman multiple times and reflects upon the influence that this woman had on Sedgwick's perception of the world. The integrity and pride that Freeman possessed regarding her own personal intelligence and understanding of the world can be reflected in Sedgwick's admiration of the woman.

When Sedgwick was seven or eight, she passed the summer under the care of her cousin Sabrina Parsons, in Bennington, Vermont, at the house of the Rev. Mr. Swift, the husband of Sedgwick's aunt. At home, she attended the district schools, but no one dictated her studies or overlooked her progress. Reading, spelling, and Dwight's Geography were the only subjects taught, in addition to the first four rules of arithmetic, the names of the several parts of speech. During her first winter in New York, when she was 11 years old, she studied dance under M. Lalliet, and had a French master who came three times a week. About two years later, she attended Mrs. Bell's boarding school in Albany, New York, as a day-scholar. At the age of 15, she was sent to Mr. Payne's boarding school in Boston to complete her education, and was there for six months. One of her schoolmates, Susan Anne Ridley Sedgwick (1788–1867), would become her sister-in-law and a published author.

Career
As a young woman, Sedgwick took charge of a school in Lenox. She converted from Calvinism to Unitarianism, which led her to write a pamphlet denouncing religious intolerance. This further inspired her to write her first novel, A New-England Tale. Redwood accordingly followed in 1824. It was received at once with a degree of favour that caused the author's name to be associated, and on equal terms, with that of James Fenimore Cooper, who was then at the height of his popularity; and, indeed, in a French translation of the book, which then appeared, Cooper is given on the title-page as the author. Redwood was also translated into the Italian, besides being reprinted in England.

Sedgwick then engaged in a work of somewhat humbler aim than Redwood, and in 1825 was published The Travelers, a work professing to give the narrative of a journey made by two very young persons, a brother and sister, with their parents, to Niagara Falls and the northern lakes. On their way, these travelers meet everywhere some incident or some sight, which is made the source of entertainment and instruction. This was the first of Sedgwick's books intended for young persons and the public gave it a ready welcome. Its success encouraged her in after years to write the series of works intended for young readers which became popular.

The reputation of the author was confirmed and extended by the appearance, in 1827, of Hope Leslie, the most decided favourite of all her novels. She wrote other things afterward, that in the opinion of some of the critics are superior to either Redwood or Hope Leslie. But these later writings had to jostle their way among a crowd of competitors, both domestic and foreign. Her earlier works stood alone, and Hope Leslie, especially, became firmly associated in the public mind with the rising form of a native literature. It was not only read with satisfaction but familiarly quoted and applauded as a source of national pride. Her subsequent novels followed at about uniform intervals, Clarence, a Tale of our Own Times appearing in 1830.

Sedgwick gives the Native American population a voice within Hope Leslie through her characterization of various people within the novel. Similar to the manner in which Sedgwick represented a progressive attitude toward the supposed duties of women during the time period, Philip Gura highlights her addition of minority groups as significant characters and her commitment to questioning the history of the nation that has been told exclusively by white men.

A little later, the Brothers Harper conceived the idea of publishing a collection of tales by several well-known authors, and applied to Sedgwick to become one of the contributors. She complied, and two volumes were published in 1832, with the title of Tales of the Glauber Spa. Sedgwick's contribution was a tale of the times of Charlemagne, entitled "Le Bossu", in which she skillfully availed herself of the elements of the picturesque to be found in the customs of that warlike age, and the court of that monarch. Then came The Linwoods, or Sixty Years Since in America, in 1835. In 1836, she commenced writing in a new vein, giving a series of illustrations of common life, called The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man. These were followed, in 1837, by Live and Let Live, and afterwards by Means and Ends, a Love Token for Children, and Stories for Young Persons.

In 1839, Miss Sedgwick went to Europe, and while there, wrote Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home. These were collected after her return and published in two volumes. She also wrote a Life of Lucretia M. Davidson, and contributed numerous articles to the Annuals and the Magazines. Some of her publications were prepared expressly for children and young persons. The Boy of Mount Rhigi, published in 1848, was one of a series of tales projected for the purpose of diffusing sentiments of goodness among the young. The titles of some of her other small volumes are Facts and Fancies, Beatitudes and Pleasant Sundays, Morals of Manners, Wilton Harvey, Home, Louisa and her Cousins, and Lessons without Books. In her final novel, Married or Single (1857), she put forth the bold idea that women should not marry if it meant they would lose their self-respect (but she married off her heroine).

In later years, both the brothers who resided in New York City were dead; and her time was divided between her friends in the neighborhood of Boston and those in her native Berkshire. At this time, she wrote Memoir of Joseph Curtis, a Model Man.

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