Born: 11 February 1802, United States
Died: 20 October 1880
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Lydia Maria Francis
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:
Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), an American writer. Her novel, “The Rebels, a Tale of the Revolution,” appeared in 1825 and was very popular. The following year she commenced the Juvenile Miscellany, a monthly magazine, which for eight years was under her management. In 1828 she was married to David Lee Child, a lawyer of Boston. When the anti-slavery movement was commenced, Mrs. Child identified herself with it at the beginning and wrote one of the first distinctive books on that subject, “An Appeal in behalf of that class of Americans called, Africans,” in which she advocated the immediate emancipation of the negro. In 1836 she wrote “Philothea,” a Grecian romance of the time of Pericles and Aspasia, and later published “A History of the Condition of Women in All Ages and Nations,” and several volumes of stories for children.
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.:
Lydia Maria Child, 1802-1880, Anti-Slavery Advocate
Her father, David Francis, was a baker in Medford, Mass. Miss Francis showed a market craving for books when quite young.
Her first novel Hobomok, was occasioned by an article in the North American Review in which the writer enthusiastically set forth the adaptation of early New England history to the purposes of fiction. She had never written for the press, but the though seized her and she wrote the first chapter of her novel the same day. In six weeks, the story was finished and upon being published was so well received that she wrote next year The Rebels; or, Boston Before the Revolution.
She next opened a private school in Watertown Mass., and about the same time started Juvenile Miscellany, a children’s magazine.
When twenty-six years of age she married David Lee Child, a Boston lawyer. She wrote The Mother’s Book, The girl’s Own Book, The History of Women, and Biographies of Good Wives.
She was now happily married, enjoyed a generous income, and was surrounded by friends of high social standing. But a change came because of herself and husband becoming identified with the anti-slavery movement. The sale of her books fell off, subscriptions to her magazine were withdrawn, and the homes of many former friends were no longer open to her.
But she had taken her position as a matter of conscience and no loss of friends, fame, or fortune could cause her to turn back. She wrote and published An Appeal on Behalf of that Class of Americans Called Africans. From a quiet and remunerative literary life she was thrust into the midst of a fierce fight.
In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. Child removed to New York and became joint editors of The Anti-Slavery Standard. Mr. Child’s health was poor and much of the time his wife worked on bravely and almost alone. One of her biographers has said, “No man or woman of that period rendered more substantial service to the cause of freedom or made such a great renunciation to do it.”
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
Wife of David Lee Child, was born in Massachusetts, but passed the early portion of her youth in Maine, whither her father, Mr. Francis, had removed when she was quite young. She found few literary privileges in the place of her residence, but she had the genius that nourishes itself on nature; and from the influence ⟨of⟩ the wild scenes which surrounded her home in childhood, she doubtless, draws even now much of the freshness of thought and vigour of style which mark her productions.
In 1823, being on a visit to her brother, the Rev. Conyers Francis, then pastor of the Unitarian Church at Watertown, Massachusetts, Miss Francis commenced her literary life with “Hobomok, a Story of the Pilgrims;” which was written in six weeks, and published in 1824; ever since that time its author has kept her place as a faithful labourer in the field of literature, and perhaps not one of the American female writers has had wider influence, or made more earnest efforts to do good with her talents. Her next work, “The Rebels,” was published in 1825; soon afterwards Miss Francis became Mrs. Child, and her married life has been a true and lovely exemplification of the domestic concord which congenial minds produce as well as enjoy.
In 1827, Mrs. Child engaged as editor of “The Juvenile Miscellany,” the first monthly periodical issued in the Union for Children. Under her care the work became very popular; she has a warm sympathy with the young—her genius harmonized with the undertaking, and some of the articles in this “Miscellany” are among the best she has written. During the six following years, Mrs. Child’s pen was incessantly employed. Besides her editorial duties she published, successively—”The Frugal Housewife,” written as she said in the preface, “for the poor,” and one of the most useful books of its kind extant—”The Mother’s Book,” an excellent manual in training children, though the author has never been a mother—and “The Girl’s Book,” designed as a holiday present, and descriptive of Children’s plays. She also prepared five volumes for “The Ladies’ Family Library,” comprising “Lives of Madame de Staël and Madame Roland;” “Lady Russell and Madame Guyon;” “Biographies of Good Wives;” and the “History and Condition of Woman;” which works were published in Boston. Besides all these she published in 1833, “The Coronal,” a collection of miscellaneous pieces, in prose and verse. The most important step in her literary career was that which she took with the abolitionists, by issuing her “Appeal for that class of Americans called Africans.” This appeal was written with that earnest and honest enthusiasm pervading all Mrs. Child’s benevolent efforts. The design of the abolitionists is the improvement and happiness of the coloured race; for this end Mrs. Child devoted her noblest talents, her holiest aspirations.
Since 1883, only three works of her’s have been published; “Philothea” appeared in 1835, a charming romance, filled with the pure aspirations of genius, and rich in classical lore; the scene being laid in Greece in the time of Pericles and Aspasia. The work is in one volume, and was planned and partly written before its author entered the arena of party; but the bitter feelings engendered by this strife, have prevented the merits of this remarkable book from being appreciated as they deserve.
In 1841, Mr. and Mrs. Child removed from Boston to the city of New York, and became conductors of “The National Anti-Slavery Standard.” Mrs. Child, while assisting in her husband’s editorial duties, now commenced a Series of Letters, partly for the “Boston Courier,” a popular newspaper, and partly for the “Standard,” (her own paper,) which after being thus published, were collected and re-issued in two volumes, entitled “Letters from New York.” This work has been very popular. Mrs. Child is a close observer, she knows “how to observe,” and better still, she has a poetical imagination and a pure, warm, loving heart, which invests her descriptions with a peculiar charm. An English Reviewer has well remarked concerning Mrs. Child:—”Whatever comes to her from without, whether through the eye or the ear, whether in nature or art, is reflected in her writings with a halo of beauty thrown about it by her own fancy; and thus presented, it appeals to our sympathies, and awakens an interest which carves it upon the memory in letters of gold. But she has yet loftier claims to respect than a poetical nature. She is a philosopher, and, better still, a religious philosopher. Every page presents to us scraps of wisdom, not pedantically put forth, as if to attract admiration, but thrown out by the way in seeming unconsciousness, and as part of her ordinary thoughts.”