Emma May Alexander Reinertsen (, Alexander;

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

, Gale Forest; also known as, Mrs. R. C. Reinertsen; January 6, 1853 – March 22, 1920) was a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

ous American writer of prose sketches, and articles on social reform issues. As "Gale Forest", she was the author of ''Five Cousins in California''. She also wrote about temperance and various customs such as wearing hats in theaters, and

spitting Spitting is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva, sputum, nasal mucus and/or other substances from the mouth. The act is often done to get rid of unwanted or foul-tasting substances in the mouth, or to get rid of a large buildup of mucus. Spi ...

street cars A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and on

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

Early life and education

Emma May Alexander was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, January 6, 1853. Her father was Capt. Squire Alexander and her mother was Henrietta E. Sherman. Her great-grandfather, Peter Belknap, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Her grandfather, Jacob Alexander, was a soldier in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Her father was master of some of the largest transports in government service during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

; at a bombardment of Fort Sumter by the ironclads, he was captain of the

dispatch boat Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...

, ''Governor'', which, because of her high speed, was of great service to the

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. Reinertsen's mother, a relative of General

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

, was orphaned in infancy and was adopted by Col. Samuel French, who traced his ancestry to the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

''. Reinertsen came to

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, when four years of age, her father having made that decision after receiving a shipbuilding patent and a portion of Jones Island. After some financial disappointments, he returned to his life on the sea, where he died and was buried. Reinertsen was educated in public and private schools in Milwaukee. She was for some time a student at the Milwaukee Female College. She dropped out of the College in what would have been her final year, in order to get married.

Career

Using the pen name "Gale Forest", Reinertsen built a reputation beyond her local region. Her sketches were characterized as "bright with wit and condensed wisdom". Called the Fanny Fern of the West as an indication of her literary style, her writing, though not voluminous, had merit. Her early writing efforts appeared in '' The Cincinnati Times''. She was also a contributor to the '' Chicago Tribune '', ''Christian Union'' (renamed, '' The Outlook'') ''Good Cheer'', as well as the Milwaukee ''Wisconsin'', ''

Sentinel Sentinel may refer to: Places Mountains * Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana * Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica * Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring granit ...

'', ''Telegraph'', and the ''Milwaukee Monthly Magazine''. One of her best sketches, "A Forbidden Topic", was incorporated in Osgood Eaton Fuller's 1884 book entitled ''Brave Men and Women: Their Struggles, Failures and Triumphs''. Published in 1909, ''Five Cousins in California'' was a children's book set in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Reinertsen also wrote on social reform issues. In 1873, she began addressing the topic of temperance, particularly the custom of children being allowed to carry

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

from

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

to homes and shops. One of her later articles on the subject was forwarded to

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

, who highly commended it and was strongly in favor of the reform. Reinertsen was the first in the "West" to protest against the wearing of hats in theaters. From that reform came a movement to remove hats in all churches. Two other reforms were credited to her, that of the custom of spitting in street cars and spitting on the sidewalk. Eventually, an ordinance was secured in Milwaukee, and thereafter, hundreds of cities and villages passed laws against the custom of spitting on sidewalks. She was a member of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

, National Society United States Daughters of 1812, College Endowment Association, and the Milwaukee Outdoor Art Association.

Personal life

On October 18, 1871, she married Robert C. Reinertsen (1846–1923), a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

of Milwaukee. The couple had two sons, Rex and Don. Her son Rex was killed in September 1907 when he suffered a fractured skull after being thrown from an automobile, aged 30. Emma May Alexander Reinertsen died on March 22, 1920, in

, aged 67.

Selected works

Books

* ''Five Cousins in California'' (1909)

Sketches

* "A Girl's Soliloquy in Church" (1874) * "How to Keep Your Husband's Love" (1876) * "How To Keep Your Wife's Love" (1876) * "For Whom the Boot Fits" (1878) * "My Neighbors" (1881) * "How They Meet and Part" (1881) * "A Forbidden Topic" (1884) * "The Model Husband" (1886) * "The Model Authoress" (1887) * "My Experience With Christian Science" (1887)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinertsen, Emma May Alexander 1853 births 1920 deaths Writers from Buffalo, New York Writers from Milwaukee 19th-century American short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 19th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers American women short story writers Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century American social reformers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Daughters of the American Revolution people