Bella Zilfa Spencer ( – ) was an English-born American novelist and early editor of the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

,'' She was the first wife of future US Senator George Eliphaz Spencer. Bella Zilfa Spencer was born on in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. According to an account of her life published in 1867 she was the daughter of an English man, the second son of a Sir Edward St. Alban, and an Italian mother. The family settled in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, where she was orphaned and raised by a foster family. She married at the age of 15, but by 1860 her husband and two children were dead. She published numerous short stories in magazines like ''

Godey's Lady's Book ''Godey's Lady's Book'', alternatively known as ''Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book'', was an American women's magazine that was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1896. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civi ...

'' and ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' and several novels and collections of stories. She was an editor of the ''Saturday Evening Post i''n Philadelphia and later purchased a share of the ownership. In 1862, she married George E. Spencer. George Spencer was a Union Army General during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Following the war, he practiced law in Alabama before becoming a politician there. Bella Spencer died in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

on 1 August 1867.

Bibliography

* ''Ora, the Lost Wife'' (1864) * ''Tried and True, A Story of the Rebellion'' (1866) * ''Surface and Depth'' (1867)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Bella Zilfa 1840 births 1867 deaths American women editors American editors American women novelists Novelists from West Virginia English emigrants to the United States American people of English descent American people of Italian descent English people of Italian descent