Florence Finch Kelly (March 27, 1858 – December 17, 1939) was an American feminist,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and author of novels and short stories.

Biography

Florence Finch was born in

Girard, Illinois Girard is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,103 at the 2010 census, and 2,010 at a 2018 estimate. History Girard is named after Stephen Girard Geography Girard is located at (39.445947, -89.781253). Accord ...

, March 27, 1858. She was the youngest child of two daughters and six sons of James Gardner Finch and Mary Ann Finch (''née'' Purdum). Her father was a farmer in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, where the family moved by

covered wagon The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...

. Charles Sumner Finch, one of her brothers, became a newspaper publisher in Kansas. Kelly attended a county high school in

Miami County, Kansas Miami County (county code MI) is a county located in east-central Kansas and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 34,191. Its county seat and most populous city is Paola. History Nativ ...

and graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

with A.B. in 1881 and with A.M. in 1884. She married in Boston the newspaper publisher Allen P. Kelly on 9 December 1884; they had a son, Morton, who died in childhood and another son, Sherwin Kelly, who became a noted geophysicist. Kelly contributed many articles to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' and the anarchist periodical ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

''. In 1906, she visited

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia to study the effects of social and economic legislation in those countries and wrote numerous magazine articles related to the social and economic changes. She worked on the staff of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as a book reviewer from 1906 to the mid 1930s. In addition to seven novels and numerous short stories and magazine articles on literary, artistic, and economic subjects, Florence Finch Kelly wrote an autobiography ''Flowing Stream: The Story of Fifty-six Years in American Newspaper Life'' (1939). She died in

New Hartford, Connecticut New Hartford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,658 at the 2020 census. The town center is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the New Hartford Center census-designated place (CDP). The town is mainl ...

in 1939.Kelly, Florence Finch (1858–1939) – Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com
/ref>

Selected works

Novels

*''Frances: A Story for Men and Women'' (1889) *''On the Inside'' (1890)
''With Hoops of Steel''
(1900)
''The Delafield Affair''
(1909)
''Rhoda of the Underground''
(1909)
''The Fate of Felix Brand''
(1913)
''The Dixons: A Story of American Life through Three Generations''
(1921)

Short story collection

''Emerson's Wife and Other Western Stories''
(1911)

References

External links