Mary Bassett Clarke
{{Short description|American writer (1831–1908)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Mary Bassett Clarke
| image = MARY BASSETT CLARKE.jpg
| caption = "A Woman of the Century"
| pseudonym = Ida Fairfield
| birth_name = Mary Bassett
| birth_date = November 18, 1831
| birth_place = Independence, New York, U.S.
| death_date = August 2, 1908 (aged 76)
| death_place =
| resting_place = Oak Grove Cemetery, Hopkinton, Rhode Island, U.S.
| occupation = writer
| language = English
| alma_mater = Alfred University
| spouse = {{marriage|William Lewis Clarke|1859}}
| children = {{hlist|Ada|John|Charles}}
| parents = {{hlist|John Chandler Bassett|Martha (St. John) Bassett}}
}}
Mary Bassett Clarke ({{nee}}, Bassett; pen name, Ida Fairfield; November 18, 1831 – August 2, 1908) was an American writer of the long nineteenth century. She was a contributor to The Flag of Our Union, Rural New Yorker, as well as periodicals issued by the Seventh Day Baptists. Autumn Leaves was published in 1894.
Early life and education
Mary Bassett was born in Independence, New York, November 18, 1831. She was the daughter of John Chandler Bassett, a well-to-do farmer of western New York, and Martha (St. John) Bassett. She was the seventh in a family of twelve children who lived to maturity. She was educated in Alfred University. Although ill-health limited her opportunities, she was graduated from the university in 1857.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=177}}
Career
At the age of fifteen, she began writing for publication, under the pen-name "Ida Fairfield," in The Flag of Our Union. With some interruption by ill-health, she continued many years to be a contributor to that paper, to the Rural New Yorker, as well as local papers and periodicals. For several years her writings, both prose and verse, were principally given to periodicals issued by the Seventh Day Baptists, of which religion she was a member.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=178}} A collection of her poems, Autumn Leaves, was published in 1894 (Buffalo).{{sfn|Moulton|1894|p=529}}
Personal life
She married William Lewis Clarke (1835–1920) on September 8, 1859, and removed to Ashaway, Rhode Island.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=178}} He served as president of the Missionary Board,{{sfn|Utter|1917|p=463}} and as a Massachusetts State Senator. The Clarke's had three children: Ada Augusta (b. 1861), John Thomas (b. 1863), and Charles Welling (b. 1865). She died August 2, 1908.{{sfn|Cutter|1915|p=2245}}
Selected works
- 1894, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_VUYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1 Autumn Leaves]
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
=Attribution=
- {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last=Cutter|first=William Richard|title=New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NegUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2245|edition=Public domain|year=1915|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company}} }}
- {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last=Moulton|first=Charles Wells|title=The Magazine of Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAcTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA529|edition=Public domain|volume=6|year=1894|publisher=Charles Wells Moulton}} }}
- {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last=Utter|first=George B.|title=The Sabbath Recorder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yh5EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA463|edition=Public domain|volume=83|year=1917|publisher=George B. Utter}} }}
- {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last1=Willard|first1=Frances Elizabeth|author1-link=Frances Willard|last2=Livermore|first2=Mary Ashton Rice|author2-link=Mary Livermore|title=A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woman_of_the_Century/Mary_Bassett_Clarke|edition=Public domain|year=1893|publisher=Charles Wells Moulton}} }}
External links
- {{Wikisource-inline |Woman of the Century/Mary Bassett Clarke}}
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Mary Bassett Clarke}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Mary Bassett}}
Category:19th-century American writers
Category:19th-century American women writers
Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers
Category:Alfred University alumni
Category:People from Allegany County, New York
Category:Writers from New York (state)
Category:Pseudonymous women writers
Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century