Mary Platt Parmele

Parmele was born in Albany, New York and educated in New York. She was the daughter of Zephaniah Platt and Cornelia Jenkins Platt.{{Cite book |last=Leonard |first=John William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVEYAAAAMAAJ&dq=Mary+Platt+Parmele+Answered+in+the+Negative&pg=PA690 |title=Who's who in New York City and State |date=1905 |publisher=L.R. Hamersly Company |pages=690 |language=en}} Her father was the Michigan Attorney General, and her grandfather was U.S. Representative Jonas Platt.

From 1892 Parmele contributed philosophical articles and short stories to reviews and magazines. Her most successful books were a number of "Short History" books of various countries written in the late 19th and early 20th century.{{Cite news |date=1901-09-17 |title=Mrs. Mary Platt Parmele; How She Cleverly Averted Embarrassment on the Part of her Guest Professor X |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal-mrs-mary-platt-parm/151205805/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=Kansas City Journal |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her "Short History of ..." books included volumes on France, Russia, England, United States, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Her style was appreciated by critics as readable, lively, and comprehensive.{{Cite news |date=1904-03-25 |title=New Books and Magazines |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-daily-bee-new-books-and-magazines/151206408/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=Omaha Daily Bee |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Parmele ventured beyond straight historical writing with Ariel, or the Author's World (1892), in which a character has the power to transport himself to a planet orbiting Earth, "created by atoms obeying the wills of writers", thus inhabited by fictional creations such as Frankenstein's monster.{{Cite web |title=SFE: Parmele, Mary Platt |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/parmele_mary_platt |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction}}{{Cite book |last=Bleiler |first=Everett Franklin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEZxhkG5eikC&dq=Mary+Platt+Parmele+Answered+in+the+Negative&pg=PA586 |title=Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930 : with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes |date=1990 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-416-2 |pages=586 |language=en}} Parmele was critical of the claims of Christian Science. In 1904, she published a book that argued against the claims of Christian Science.Anonymous. (1904). [https://archive.org/stream/booknews00britgoog#page/n272/mode/2up "New Books and Editions – Religion"], Book News: An Illustrated Magazine Vol. 23, No. 267; p. 244.{{Cite news |last=Fairchild |first=H. Coulson |date=1904-09-28 |title=Christian Science Defended; Official Reply to Mrs. Mary Platt Parmele's Book |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/passaic-daily-herald-christian-science-d/151205628/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=Passaic Daily Herald |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}

• Answered in the Negative (1892, two stories)
• The Evolution of an Empire: A Brief Historical Sketch of France (1894){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/evolutionofempir02parm |title=The evolution of an empire. A brief historical sketch of France |date=1894 |publisher=New York, W.B. Harrison |others=The Library of Congress}}
• A Short History of England (1898){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofen01parm |title=A short history of England |date=1898 |publisher=New York, C. Scribner's Sons |others=The Library of Congress}}
• A Short History of France (1898){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryoffr00parm |title=A short history of France |date=1907 |publisher=N. Y. : Scribner |others=University of California Libraries}}
• A Short History of Germany (1898){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008647511 |title=A short history of Germany |date=1898 |publisher=C. Scribner's sons |location=New York}}
• A Short History of Spain (1898){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofsp00parm |title=A short history of Spain |date=1907 |publisher=New York : C. Scribner's sons |others=University of California Libraries}}
• A Short History of the United States (1898){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofun00parm |title=A short history of the United States |date=1898 |publisher=New York, C Scribner's sons |others=The Library of Congress}}
• Ariel, or the Author's World (1898, chapbook)
• The Kingdom of the Invisible (1902){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/kingdomofinvisib00parm |title=The kingdom of the invisible |date=1902 |publisher=New York, Irving press |others=The Library of Congress}}
• Christian Science: Is it Christian? Is it Scientific? (1904){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008414767 |title=Christian science; is it Christian? Is it scientific |date=1904 |publisher=J.F. Taylor & company |location=New York}}
• A Short History of England, Ireland, and Scotland (1907){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofen00parm |title=A short history of England, Ireland, And Scotland |date=1907 |publisher=New York : C. Scribner's Sons |others=University of California Libraries}}
• A Short History of Rome and Italy (1907){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofro00parm |title=A short history of Rome and Italy |date=1907 |publisher=New York : C. Scribner's Sons |others=University of California Libraries}}
• A Short History of Russia (1907){{Cite book |last=Parmele |first=Mary Platt |url=http://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofru00parmiala |title=A short history of Russia; |date=1907 |publisher=New York : C. Scribner's sons |others=University of California Libraries}}

Mary Platt married twice. Her first marriage was to Samuel J. Agnew; they had two sons, Howard and Holmes,{{Cite book |last=Platt |first=George Lewis |url=http://archive.org/details/plattlineagegene00plat |title=The Platt lineage; a genealogical research and record |date=1891 |publisher=New York, T. Whittaker |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=123}} and divorced. In 1870, she married her cousin, widower Theodore Weld Parmele; he died in 1893.{{Cite news |date=1893-05-15 |title=Obituary: Col. Theodore Weld Parmele |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1893/05/15/archives/obituary-col-theodore-weld-parmele.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=The New York Times |pages=5 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} She lived with Mrs. J. J. Tierney in her last years, and died when she was struck by a motorcycle in 1911, at the age of 67, in New York City.{{Cite news |date=1911-05-27 |title=Wheel Kills Woman Author |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-wheel-kills-woman-author/151204360/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=May 27, 1911 |title=Motor Cycle Kills Mrs. Mary Parmele; Aged Woman Writer, Weak from Illness, Walked Into Its Path in Sixth Avenue |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/05/27/104867785.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=The New York Times |pages=1 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} Her son Holmes Agnew was institutionalized at the time of her death.{{Cite news |date=1911-06-27 |title=None to Claim Her Estate; Mrs. M. P. Parmele's Personalty Devised to Inebriate Son |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-none-to-claim-her-estat/151205997/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |work=New-York Tribune |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her grave is in Brooklyn's historic Green-Wood Cemetery.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Gutenberg author |id=7014| name=Mary Platt Parmele}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Mary Platt Parmele}}
• {{Librivox author |id=15318}}
• {{ISFDB name|id=132096}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parmele, Mary Platt}}

Category:1843 births

Category:1911 deaths

Category:American Christians

Category:American women historians

Category:Critics of Christian Science

Category:Writers from Albany, New York

Category:Historians from New York (state)