Cecilia Viets Jamison (1837 – April 11, 1909) was a British North American-born American writer. The daughter of Viets and Elizabeth Bruce Dakin, she was born Cecilia Viets Dakin in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a port town located on the Bay of Fundy in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. Yarmouth is the shire town of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Yarmouth County and is the largest population centre in the region. History Originally inhab ...

and moved to

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with her family during her mid-teens. She studied at private schools in Canada,

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, Boston and

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. Following her first marriage, Jamison went on to study art in

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for three years. There, she met

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

, who encouraged her in her writing and supported the publication of her book ''Woven of Many Threads'' in 1872. On her return to the United States, she participated in the literary

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of Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis. Jamison contributed to ''

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 ...

'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'' and the ''

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''. Her earliest writings such as ''Something to Do: A Novel'' (1871) and ''A Crown from the Spear'' (1872) were mainly set in Europe and targeted at an adult audience. In 1891, she began writing for young audiences with ''Lady Jane''; set in

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, it was translated into French, Italian, German and Norwegian. She was married twice: first to George Hamilton around 1860 and then to Samuel Jamison, a lawyer from New Orleans, in 1878. The couple lived near

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, moving to New Orleans in 1887. After her second husband's death in 1902, she returned to

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. She died in Roxbury seven years later from heart disease.

Selected works

* ''Woven of Many Threads'' (1871) * ''Something to Do: A Novel'' (1871) * ''A Crown from the Spear'' (1872) * ''My Bonnie Lass'' (1877) * ''The Story of an Enthusiast: Told by Himself'' (1888) * ''Lady Jane'' (1891) * ''Toinette's Phillip'' (1894) * ''Seraph, the Little Violiniste'' (1896) * ''Thistledown'' (1903) * ''The Penhallow Family'' (1905)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamison, Cecilia Viets 1837 births 1909 deaths American women writers Emigrants from pre-Confederation Nova Scotia to the United States