Born: 21 December 1830, United States
Died: 3 June 1922
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mary Hawes, Marion Herland, Mrs. E. P. Terhune
The following is republished from New Jersey Women’s History, in line with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Writer and homemaker Mary Virginia Hawes Terhune (1830-1922) began her first novel at the age of sixteen.
It was published by her father in 1854 after it was rejected by a formal publisher. Her novel Alone was an immediate success, and when republished two years later it sold more than 100,000 copies.
Terhune’s minister husband Edward Payson Terhune was called to preach in Newark where the couple remained for the next eighteen years. She continued writing despite her home, parish, and civic responsibilities. Terhune served as the President of the Women’s Christian Association of Newark for which she raised money, counseled, and found jobs for poor young women.
A prolific writer, Terhune published fourteen novels between 1857 and 1873. Among her published works was a book entitled Common Sense in the Household. The instructional guide was written in 1871 for the beginner homemaker and launched Terhune’s name to the best-seller list. Her book was translated into French, Spanish, German, and Arabic. Terhune’s success in the homemaker industry encouraged her to publish numerous articles, syndicated columns, and lectures related to household themes. She still believed that women found their highest fulfillment as wives and mothers, but also suggested that these roles should not overshadow active involvement in other positions of power.
References:
Fahs, Alice. “The Woman’s Page.” In Out on Assignment: Newspaper Women and the Making of Modern Public Space, 56-91. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
Hawkesworth, Mary, Lisa Hetfield, Barbara Balliet and Jennifer Morgan. “Femnist Interventions: Creating New Institutional Spaces for Women at Rutgers.” In Doing Diversity in Higher Education: Faculty Leaders Share Challenges and Strategies, edited by Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press, 2008, 137-165. Accessed April 26, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Marian Harland, the pen name of Mrs. E. P. Terhune, an American novelist and journalist, born in Richmond, Va., of New England ancestry.
She was editorially connected with Babyhood, Wide Awake, Saint Nicholas, and the Home-Maker, and during her long career, she wrote many popular domestic manuals, social essays, sketches of travel, novels and short stories.
Her works include: Alone, A Tale of Southern Life and Manners (1854), Common Sense in the Household (1872) and Marion Harland’s Autobiography (1910).
The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.
Mrs. Mary Virginia Terhune, “Marian Harland”, Celebrated Writer on Domestic Economy, 1830 – 1922 A.D.
Her pen name is a household word in our land. Intimate friends tell us how charmingly she has combined “home making” with literary work. She possesses a masterful way of making duties fit each other without fuss or jostle.
Who can say how many hundred homes have been brightened and sweetened and made more wholesome in everything from food to atmosphere by her wise and happy writings?
Miss Mary Virginia Hawes was born in Virginia, though her parents were natives of New England.
Her education was of the best; and while pursuing her studies she showed marked ability. At fourteen years of age she began to contribute to a weekly paper in Richmond. At sixteen she wrote Marrying Through Prudential Motives, which was so popular as to be published in England and translated into French and finally retranslated into English and again published. Finally, it reappeared in the United States in its altered form.
She became the wife of Rev. Edward Payson Terhune, who has for many years been the pastor of the Puritan Congregational Church of Brooklyn N.Y.
Mrs. Terhune’s writing has not all been along the same lines, but she has written several novels; among them, Alone, a tale of Southern life and manners, The Hidden Path, True as Steel.
Husbands and Homes; Common Sense in the Household; Breakfast, Luncheon, and Tea; The Dinner Year Book; Eve’s Daughters, or Common Sense for Maid, Wife, and Mother, are books whose titles speak for themselves.
She is widely known as a lecturer before Women’s councils on “The Kitchen as a Moral Agency,” “Our sons and Our Daughters,” and “How to Grow Old Gracefully.”