Maria Susanna Cummins (April 9, 1827 – October 1, 1866) was an American novelist. She authored the novel ''
The Lamplighter'' (1854).
Biography
Maria Susanna Cummins was born in
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...
, on April 9, 1827. She was the daughter of David Cummins and Maria F. Kittredge, and was the eldest of four children. The Cummins family resided in the neighborhood of
Dorchester in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts. Cummins' father encouraged her to become a writer at an early age. She studied at Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's Young Ladies School in
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 United States census ...
.
In 1854, she published the novel ''
The Lamplighter''. One reviewer called it "one of the most original and natural narratives". Within eight weeks, it sold 40,000 copies and totaled 70,000 by the end of its first year in print.
[Bell, Michael Davitt. "Women's Fiction and the Literary Marketplace in the 1850s", ''Culture, Genre, and Literary Vocation: Selected Essays on American Literature''. University of Chicago Press, 2001: 141. ] She wrote other books, including ''Mabel Vaughan'' (1857).
Cummins died in Dorchester after a period of illness on October 1, 1866, aged 39.
[(3 October 1866)]
Death of Miss Maria Cummins, The Author
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' (reporting based on ''Boston Transcript'' story)
Selected bibliography
* 1854 : ''
The Lamplighter''
* 1857 : ''Mabel Vaughan''
* 1860 : ''El Fureidis''
* 1864 : ''A Talk About Guides''
* 1864 : ''Haunted Hearts''
* 1865 : ''Around Mull''
Further reading
*''Dictionary of Literary Biography''. 1978ff. Detroit. Gale Research Company.
*''Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary''. 1971. Ed. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James & Paul S. Boyer. 3 Bde. Cambridge, MA. The Belknap Press of Harvard UP.
References
External links
Dorchester Atheneum : Maria Susanna Cummins- biography
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* ''The Lamplighter'' by
''The Lamplighter''by Rebecca Saulsbury at the Literary Encyclopedia
"The Lamplighter"audio book a
"Librivox"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummins, Maria Susanna
1827 births
1866 deaths
19th-century American novelists
Writers from Salem, Massachusetts
Novelists from Boston
American women novelists
19th-century American women writers
People from Dorchester, Boston
Writers from Boston
Abbot Academy alumni