Woman of the Century/Emma Bedelia Dunham

DUNHAM, Mrs. Emma Bedelia, poet, born in Minot, now Auburn, Me., 31st August, 1826. She was the fourth child in the family of Capt. Joseph Smith Sargent and Ann Hoyt Sargent. She attended the district school, but it may be questioned whether she gained as much education within its walls as without. She moved with her parents to the city of Portland, Me., at the ape of nine years. There she attended public and private schools and had the benefit of private teachers, and grew into the mature poet, story-writer and teacher. EMMA BEDELIA DUNHAM. Her school education was finished in Westbrook Seminary. She now has a beautiful home in Deering, Me. Her library and collection of natural curiosities, the latter begun when she was about eleven years old, are used, like all her possessions, for doing good. She became the wife of RuJus Dunham, of Westbrook, now Deering, 25th August. 1845. She is the mother of three sons and two daughters. Four other children died young. She is still an enthusiastic writer and teacher. Children go to her school for the pleasure as well as instruction to be had there. Mrs. Dunham has had much influence, as a Christian, in the community in which she lives. At her suggestion, the Universalist Church. All Souls, was organized in 1881, she becoming one of the original members. She began to write when very young, and she fled from the shelter of one pen-name to that of another, dreading to have the public know her as an author, until, after years of success, she gained courage to use her own name. Her writings consist largely of poetry, but include also sketches on natural history, essays, letters of travel and stories for children. Some of her songs have been set to music. "Margaret, a Home Opera in Six Acts," is one of the best of her poetic productions. It was brought out in 1875. Mrs. Dunham is a typical New England woman, who, in spite of her more than three-score years, is still young, enthusiastic and hopeful.