Martha Finley Explained

Martha Finley
Pseudonym:Martha Farquharson
Birth Date:April 26, 1828
Birth Place:Chillicothe, Ohio, U.S.
Death Place:Elkton, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation:Teacher, author
Language:English
Nationality:American
Notableworks:Elsie Dinsmore series; Mildred Keith series
Relatives:Samuel Finley
Signature:Signature of Martha Finley.png

Martha Finley (pen name: Martha Farquharson; April 26, 1828  - January 30, 1909)[1] was an American teacher and author of numerous works for children, the best known being the 28-volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. Her books tend to be sentimental, with a strong emphasis on religious belief. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26, 1828, in Chillicothe, Ohio. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland.

Early years

Martha Finley was born on April 26, 1828, in Chillicothe, Ohio. Her father. Dr. James B Finley, was the oldest son of General Samuel Finley, a Revolutionary officer, major in the Virginia line of cavalry, afterward general of militia in Ohio, and of Mary Brown, daughter of one of Pennsylvania's early legislators. Her maternal grandmother was the daughter of Thomas Butler, who was a great-grandson of that Duke of Ormond who was influential in making the treaty of Utrecht. The Finleys and Browns were of Scotch-Irish descent and had martyr blood in their ancestry. The name of their clan was Farquarharson, the Gaelic of Finley, and for many years Miss Finley used that name as her pen-name.

The Butlers were military men. Five of Miss Finley's great-uncles of that name were in the war of the Revolution, two of them on George Washington's staff. One of her great-uncles, Dr. Samuel Finley, was one of the early presidents of Princeton College. Her grandfathers, both on her father's and mother's side, were wealthy. Her grandfather Finley received large tracts of land from the Government in acknowledgment of his services to his country during the Revolution. He laid out and owned the town of Newville, Pennsylvania. Some of his land was in Ohio, and he finally removed to that State.

Finley attended private schools in South Bend, Indiana.[2]

Career

In the winter of 1853, Finley began her literary career by writing a newspaper story and a little book published by the Baptist Board of Publication. Many of her early works were short stories contributed to the children's sections of Sunday-school papers. Originally written anonymously, the stories’ success led her publishers to ask her to include her name. At the time her family objected to her the publishing under her own name, so she chose "Martha Farquharson" as her pen name.[3]

Between 1856 and 1870, she wrote more than twenty Sunday school books and several series of juveniles, one series containing twelve books. These were followed by Casella (Philadelphia, 1869), Peddler of LaGrave, Old Fashioned Boy (Philadelphia, 1871), and Our Fred (New York City, 1874). It is through her "Elsie" and "Mildred" series that she became popular as a writer for the young. Finley did not write exclusively for the young. She wrote three novels, Wanted—A Pedigree (Philadelphia, 1879), Signing the Contract (New York, 1879), and Thorn in the Nest (New York. 1886).

Personal life

Finley resided in Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland, in a cottage which she built. On March 3, 1892, she became a member of the Singerly Fire Company, the town's fire department, when she was issued stock certificate 33, which granted her full privileges of membership.

There is no evidence to indicate other types of participation in the organization, as most likely Singerly generously benefited from financial contributions from the civic-minded, progressive writer, yet she was the only woman listed on the rolls of the Elkton fire department until the mid-1970s [4]

List of publications

Elsie Dinsmore series

See main article: Elsie Dinsmore.

  1. Elsie Dinsmore (1867) – online at Project Gutenberg
  2. Elsie's Holidays at Roselands (1868) – online at Project Gutenberg
  3. Elsie's Girlhood (1872) – online at Project Gutenberg
  4. Elsie's Womanhood (1875) – online at Project Gutenberg
  5. Elsie's Motherhood (1876) – online at Project Gutenberg
  6. Elsie's Children (1877) – online at Project Gutenberg
  7. Elsie's Widowhood (1880)
  8. Grandmother Elsie (1882) – online at Project Gutenberg
  9. Elsie's New Relations (1883) – online at Project Gutenberg
  10. Elsie at Nantucket (1884) – online at Project Gutenberg
  11. The Two Elsies (1885) – online at Project Gutenberg
  12. Elsie's Kith and Kin (1886) – online at Project Gutenberg
  13. Elsie's Friends at Woodburn (1887)
  14. Christmas with Grandma Elsie (1888) – online at Project Gutenberg
  15. Elsie and the Raymonds (1889)
  16. Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds (1890)
  17. Elsie's Vacation (1891) – online at Project Gutenberg
  18. Elsie at Viamede (1892)
  19. Elsie at Ion (1893)
  20. Elsie at the World's Fair (1894) – online at Project Gutenberg
  21. Elsie's Journey on Inland Waters (1895)
  22. Elsie at Home (1897) – online at Project Gutenberg
  23. Elsie on the Hudson (1898)
  24. Elsie in the South (1899)
  25. Elsie's Young Folks in Peace and War (1900)
  26. Elsie's Winter Trip (1902)
  27. Elsie and Her Loved Ones (1903)
  28. Elsie and Her Namesakes (1905)

Mildred Keith series

See main article: Mildred Keith.

  1. Mildred Keith (1876) – online at Project Gutenberg
  2. Mildred at Roselands (1880) – online at Project Gutenberg
  3. Mildred and Elsie (1881)
  4. Mildred's Married Life, and a Winter with Elsie Dinsmore (1882)
  5. Mildred at Home: With Something about her Relatives and Friends (1884)
  6. Mildred's Boys and Girls (1886)
  7. Mildred's New Daughter (1894)

References

Attribution

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Miss Martha Finley (obituary). January 31, 1909. The New York Times. June 2, 2010.
  2. News: Miss Martha Finley -- Famed Author of Elsie Books at Rest . 1909-02-06 . . 1 . . 2023-07-02.
  3. Florence Wilson. “Faces We Seldom See: The Author of the ‘Elsie’ Books”. The Ladies’ Home Journal, April 1893, vol. X no. 5, p. 3.
  4. Web site: Martha Finley Joins the Singerly Fire Company in 1892 -. 2019-11-02. Window on Cecil County's Past. en-US. 2019-11-04.

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