Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer

Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer (December 10, 1812 – May 19, 1894) was an American poet, biographer, and editor.[1] Her writings ranged through a wide variety of themes.

Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer
BornCaroline Mehitable Fisher
December 10, 1812
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMay 19, 1894(1894-05-19) (aged 81)
Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeMount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupationpoet, biographer, editor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Thomas J. Sawyer
​
(m. 1831)​

Born in 1812, in Massachusetts, she began composing verse at an early age, but published little till after her marriage. Thereafter, she wrote much for various reviews and other miscellanies, besides several volumes of tales, sketches, and essays. She also made numerous translations from German literature, in prose and verse, in which she evinced an appreciation of the original. Sawyer's poems were numerous, sufficient for several volumes, though they were not published as a collection.[2]

Early years and education

Caroline Mehitable Fisher was born in Newton, Massachusetts, December 10, 1812. She was relataed to the Gores, Danas, Gridleys, Foxcrofts and Kendricks, and was a descendant of Thomas Cranmer. Sawyer's maternal grandfather (with whom she lived with a widowed mother and a highly educated but invalid uncle) was John Kendrick, who commanded a company at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and was a conscientious Abolitionist.[3]

At a Baptist Sunday school, where the Bible and Isaac Watts' hymns were committed to memory, Sawyer recited the first eight chapters of the Gospel of Mark when she was just eight years old. Before the age of ten, she had read Shakespeare, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Plutarch's Parallel Lives, as well as Hume's and Smollett's History of England.[3]

At school, after eating lunch, she would improvise stories of knights and ladies, fairies and hobgoblins, for her fellow students. This continued until the invalid uncle, whose life had been passed in pursuits of science and literature, removed her from the country school to his own supervision.[3] She was then carefully and thoroughly educated at home.[4] Soon after this, he prepared an herbarium of the hundreds of wild plants of New England growing within 10 miles (16 km) of Boston, for the Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Scotland; in all these collections and preparations, the uncle instructed Sawyer in the science of nature. Sawyer was also educated in French and German, as well as history and mythology.[3]

Career

Sawyer started writing when very young. The "Burlington Sentinel" published her first poem. Young as she was, she was a welcome contributor to the "Sentinel," and afterward to the "Boston Evening Gazette" and " Democratic Review."[3]

In September 1831, she married Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, D.D.,[5] the pastor of Orchard Street Church, in New York City.[3] At the end of about 15 years Rev. Sawyer was chosen president of Clinton Liberal Institute, Universalist seminary at Clinton, Oneida County, New York, and they moved to that town upon his assumption of the office.[4]

Sawyer was one of the most prolific writers of Christian Universalism denominational literature. During Sawyer's 25 years in New York, she was constantly recording writing. She was a contributor to "Graham's Magazine," the "Knickerbocker Magazine", and the "Democratic Review". For several years, she was a constant contributor to the "Odd Fellows' Magazine," published in Baltimore, Maryland; and for Horace Greeley's "New Yorker". Park Benjamin Sr., opened the door into the "New World" for Sawyer. Her stories, essays and poems were excellent. Her translations from the French and German were graceful.[3]

Sawyer became editor of the "Rose of Sharon" in 1849; she was a constant contributor from its first appearance, in 1840, during Sarah Carter Edgarton Mayo's editorship. In 1860, she became editor of "The Ladies' Repository". For several years, she was editor of the youth's department in the "Christian Messenger",[3] as well as the "Universalist Union" (1835–47).[6]

Personal life

In 1881, Thomas J. Sawyer, D.D., was Packard Professor of Theology in Tufts College,[5] and Dean of the Department of Divinity.[3]

She died May 19, 1894 in Somerville, Massachusetts and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

References
  1. Scott 1957, p. 55.
  2. Hanaford 1883, p. 245.
  3. Hanson 1884, pp. 145-50.
  4. Griswold 1852, p. 218.
  5. Bisbee & Whitcomb 1895, p. 62.
  6. Okker 2008, p. 208.

Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bisbee, F.A.; Whitcomb, M. (1895). To-day (Public domain ed.). F.A. Bisbee & M. Whitcomb.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot (1852). The Female Poets of America (Public domain ed.). H.C. Baird.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hanaford, Phebe Ann (1883). Daughters of America; Or, Women of the Century (Public domain ed.). B. B. Russell.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hanson, E. R. (1884). Our Woman Workers: Biographical Sketches of Women Eminent in the Universalist Church for Literary, Philanthropic and Christian Work (Public domain ed.). Star and Covenant Office.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Bibliography
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