A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Warren, Mercy
WARREN, MERCY,
One of the first American female poets, and a historian who still holds a high place among the writers of her day, was born in Barnstable, in the old colony of Plymouth, in 1728. She was the daughter of Colonel James Otis, and received her instruction principally from the Rev. Jonathan Russel, the clergyman of the village, as schools were then almost unknown. About 1754, Miss Otis married James Warren, a merchant of Plymouth, who encouraged her in literary pursuits. She entered warmly into the contrast between England and America, and corresponded with Samuel and John Adams, Jefferson, Dickinson, Gerry, Knox, and many other leading men of the time; these often consulted her, and acknowledged the soundness of her judgment, on many of the important events before and after the war. Mrs. Warren often changed her residence during the war, but always retained her habits of hospitality. She wrote two tragedies, "The Sack of Rome," and "The Ladies of Castile," many of her other poems, and a satire called "The Group," to alleviate the pangs of suspense, while her Meads were actively engaged, during the revolution. She was particularly celebrated for her knowledge of history; and Rochefoacanld, in his "Travels in the United States," speaks of her extensive reading. Mrs. Warren died October 19th., 1814, in the eighty-seventh year of her age. Her writings were published in 1805, under the title of "The History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, interspersed with Biographical, Political, and Moral Observations," in three volumes. This work she dedicated to Washington; and it is now considered valuable as a record of the events and feelings of those revolutionary times.