Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/215

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COTES.
COTES.

COTES, Mrs. Sara Jeannette Duncan, author and journalist, born in Brentford, Ontario, Canada, in 1862. She is most widely known by her maiden name, Sara Jeannette Duncan. Her PHŒBE COUZINS. father, Charles Duncan, is a merchant of Brantford and a man of wide information and keen intelligence. Her mother is a quick-witted Irish woman. As a child, Miss Duncan was an earnest reader. She received her education in the public schools and collegiate institute of her native town. She fitted herself for a public school-teacher and taught in the Brentford schools for a short time; the work was not congenial, however, and she soon relinquished it. She early began to write verse and prose, and after the usual discouragements she decided to make journalism a stepping-stone to literature. Her first newspaper work was in the year of the Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, whither she went to write descriptive letters for the Toronto "Globe." the Buffalo "Courier," the Memphis "Appeal" and other newspapers. After that she went to Washington. D. C, and became a member of the editorial staff of the Washington "Post." Her newspaper experience, especially that in Washington, was of great service to her. Her "copy" was freely and even severely criticised by the editor of the "Post," with the result of improving her manner of writing. Leaving Washington, she joined the staff of the Toronto "Globe," and later that of the Montreal "Star," passing one season in Ottawa as the special correspondent of the "Star." She made a hit with her unconventional book of travels, entitled "A Social Departure; or How Orthodocia and I went Round the World by Ourselves." Her companion on that journey, whom she calls "Orthodocia," was Miss Lily Lewis, a young woman engaged in literary and journalistic work, a contributor to "Galignani" and several London journals. Her next book was "An American Girl in London." On her trip around the earth Miss Duncan met E. C. Cotes in Calcutta, India, and she became his wife within two years after their first meeting. Professor Cotes has a scientific appointment in connection with the Indian Museum, and has acquired considerable reputation in the field of his special research, Indian entomology. They make their home in Calcutta, India.


MARY EMILY BENNETT COUES. COUES, Mrs. Mary Emily Bennett, woman suffragist, born in New York City, 26th August, 1835. She was a daughter of Henry Silliman Bennett and Mary Emily Martin Bennett On her father's side she is a collateral descendant of the famous Aaron Burr, cousin of Mr. Bennett, and is connected with the Silliman family of New Haven, Conn., which includes the two Benjamins, father and son, both distinguished scientists. The maternal ancestry includes the name of Foote, honored in New England annals, and of Martin, borne by several officers of high rank in the English navy. Sir Henry Byam Martin. K. C. B., the second son of Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin. G. C. B., admiral of the fleet and vice-admiral of the United Kingdom, for many years comptroller of the navy and member of Parliament for Plymouth, who died 21st October, 1854, was Mrs. Bennett's cousin. The Martin family resided in Antigua, where they owned large estates, and Sir William Byam. who died in 1869, was president of the council of Antigua and colonel of the Antigua dragoons. The grandaunts of Mrs. Coues were the Misses Martin, Catherine, Penelope and Eliza, long known in New England for their devotion to education, whose historical school in Portland, Me., attracted pupils from far and wide. A strong character might be expected in a descendant of ancestry which included such marked individualities and developed such diverse tendencies, so it is no wonder that Mrs. Coues has taken a recognized position among those women who represent the advance thought of the day on