Esther Nelson Karn (August 1860 – April 13, 1936) was an American poet and business owner, based in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

Early life

Esther (or Hester) Nelson was born in

New Philadelphia, Ohio New Philadelphia is a city in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The county's largest city, New Philadelphia lies along the Tuscarawas River. The population was 17,677 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It i ...

, and raised in

DeKalb County, Indiana DeKalb County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 43,265. The county seat is Auburn. History On February 7, 1835, the Indiana State Legislature passed an omnibus bill that author ...

, the daughter of Hugh Nelson and Lucinda Davis Nelson. She trained to teach at Hicksville High School. She also attended courses at the Detroit School of Journalism and the De Silva School of Oratory in Fort Wayne.

Career

Nelson taught briefly before she married. After she married, she worked as a bookkeeper, and wrote poetry. "The authoress is thoroughly conversant with the ways of nature and has the pleasing faculty of creating within the reader a mood essential to the fullest enjoyment of her theme," according to one reviewer in 1925. She gave public readings of her poems, sometimes with musical accompaniment, and was a member of the Order of Bookfellows, a Chicago-based writers' organization. She also wrote song lyrics. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she wrote topical lyrics about defeating the

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

. In widowhood after 1904, and after her brother and business partner died in the

Spanish flu pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest document ...

in 1919, she continued to run the family's piano store and sheet music business in Fort Wayne, into the early 1930s.

Publications

* ''Snow-Flakes'' (1900) * ''Violets'' (1904) * ''Wild Roses'' (1915) * ''Lure of the Wilds'' (1925)

Personal life

In 1882, Esther Nelson married Samuel A. Karn, who was a sales representative for a musical instrument manufacturer. They moved to Fort Wayne and opened a music store. The S. A. Karn Music Company was incorporated as a business in 1902, with Esther Karn as one of the directors. Her husband died in 1904. She died in a hospital in

Allen County, Indiana Allen County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 385,410, making it the List of counties in Indiana, third-most populous county in Indiana. The county seat and largest city is Fort Wayne, Indiana, ...

in 1936, from cancer, at the age of 75.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karn, Esther Nelson 1860 births 1936 deaths American women poets Writers from Fort Wayne, Indiana People from New Philadelphia, Ohio