Mary Ormsbee Whitton Explained

Mary Royce Ormsbee Whitton (February 23, 1886 - January 31, 1971) was a 20th-century American author. She wrote First First Ladies (1948) and other books focusing on women in American history.^[1]

Mary Royce Ormsbee was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Smith College in 1907,^[2] and published short stories and poems in various publications.

Her 1927 book "The New Servant" was about new and pervasive use of electrical appliances at home.^[1] Her books were published under the name "Mary Ormsbee Whitton".

Her husband William H. Whitton died in 1951.^{[1] [3] [4]} She died of a heart attack at her home in Pound Ridge, New York at the age of 84 on January 31, 1971. She was survived by a daughter, also named Mary Ormsbee Whitton, who married journalist George E. Bria,^[5] and two grandchildren.^[1]

Selected bibliography

• The New Servant: Electricity in the Home (1927)
• First First Ladies 1789-1865: A Study of the Wives of the Early Presidents (1948)^[6]
• These Were the Women: U.S.A. 1776-1860 (1954)

Notes and References

1. (2 February 1971). Mary Ormsbee Whitton, 84; Author of ‘The New Servant’, The New York Times
2. https://archive.org/details/class1907smit/page/38/mode/2up?q=ormsbee Class of 1907 Classbook
3. (3 October 1951). William H. Whitton (short obituary), The New York Times ("held various executive positions in thirty years of service with the Consolidated Edison Company of New York before his retirement in 1937, died yesterday, after a long illness, in his home in Pound Ridge, N.Y. His age was 74.")
4. (30 October 1915). Miss Mary Royce Ormsbee Engaged, Brooklyn Life
5. (18 March 2017) Bria, AP newsman who flashed Nazi surrender, dies at 101, Star Tribune (Associated Press story)
6. Fennelly, Catherine. Review, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct., 1949), pp. 683-685