The Female Prose Writers of America/Elizabeth C. Kinney
ELIZABETH C. KINNEY.
Mrs. Kinney is a native of New York, and the daughter of Mr. David L. Dodge, a wealthy and retired merchant of that city. She was married in 1840 to Mr. William B. Kinney, so well known as the editor of the Newark Daily Advertiser, and as the leading political writer in the State of New Jersey.
To Mrs. Kinney, the language of song seems to have been one of the instincts of her nature, and, if she did not actually “lisp in numbers,” her poetical temperament was very early manifest, and has always been very strong. Her poems, which have been profusely scattered through the pages of the Knickerbocker, Graham, and Sartain, have, unfortunately, never been collected into any more enduring shape. She commenced publishing under the name of “Stedman,” dating from “Cedar Brook,” the country residence of her father, near Newark, New Jersey.
With the exception of “Aunt Rachel,” published in Sartain’s Magazine; “The Parsonage Gathering,” “My Aunt Polly,” and “Mrs. Tiptop,” in Graham, and some few other tales and sketches, her prose writings have appeared in the Newark Daily, the literary department of which has been for several years committed to her hands. The critiques and essays of various kinds that have graced these columns are among the best things that Mrs. Kinney has written.
Mrs. Kinney, in 1850, went to Italy, her husband having received from the United States Government the appointment to the Sardinian mission. Her talents and her literary reputation have secured for her a very flattering reception among the savants and the court circle to which she has been accredited. Their residence is at Turin.