Ellen Devereux Sewall Osgood ( – ) was an American amateur geologist best known for being a love interest of

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

Biography

Early life and education

Ellen Devereux Sewall was born on in

Barnstable, Massachusetts Barnstable ( ) is a List of municipalities in Massachusetts, town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population ...

, the daughter of the Rev. Edmund Quincy Sewall, a Unitarian minister, and Caroline Ward Sewall. She was named after the heroine of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's poem " Lochinvar". She was educated at the Roxbury Female Academy.

Natural history

Her education sparked her lifelong interest in natural history, particularly geology. She created a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

and collected geological specimens in a handmade

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

box given to her by Henry David Thoreau, now in the Concord Museum.

Courtship and marriage

Beginning in 1839, she was courted by both Henry David Thoreau and his older brother John Thoreau. Both men sent her letters and gifts, including mineral specimens. The next year both John and then Henry proposed to her. She initially accepted John's proposal, but later rejected it, and rejected Henry's proposal at the insistence of her father. Henry David Thoreau's poem "Sympathy" was written about Osgood's younger brother, George. In 1962, at the age of 98, her youngest daughter, artist Louise Osgood Koopman, published an account of her mother's relationship with Thoreau in the ''Massachusetts Review''. In 1844, she married the Rev. Joseph Osgood, a Unitarian minister like her father. They had ten children.

Death

Ellen Sewall Osgood died in December 1892.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osgood, Ellen Created via preloaddraft 1822 births 1892 deaths American women geologists People from Barnstable, Massachusetts