Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

Susan Coolidge
Born
Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

(1835-01-29)January 29, 1835
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 9, 1905(1905-04-09) (aged 70)
OccupationChildren's author
Writing career
Pen nameSusan Coolidge
Notable workWhat Katy Did (1872)

Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (January 29, 1835 – April 9, 1905), known by her pen name Susan Coolidge, was an American children's author, known for her novel What Katy Did (1872).

Background

Woolsey was born on January 29, 1835, in Cleveland, Ohio, to John Mumford Woolsey and Jane Andrews. She was a member of the wealthy New England Dwight family, and author and poet Gamel Woolsey was her niece. Her family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1852.

Woolsey worked as a nurse during the American Civil War (1861–1865), after which she started to write. She never married, and resided at her family home in Newport, Rhode Island, until her death. She edited The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delaney (1879) and The Diary and Letters of Frances Burney (1880).

She is best known for her classic children's novel What Katy Did (1872). The fictional Carr family was modeled after her own, with Katy Carr inspired by Woolsey herself. The brothers and sisters were modeled on her four younger siblings: Jane Andrews Woolsey, born October 25, 1836, who married Reverend Henry Albert Yardley; Elizabeth Dwight Woolsey, born April 24, 1838, who married Daniel Coit Gilman and died in 1910; Theodora Walton Woolsey, born September 7, 1840; and William Walton Woolsey, born July 18, 1842, who married Catherine Buckingham Convers, daughter of Charles Cleveland Convers.

Works

Books

Selected work in periodicals

Translations

Articles on Susan Coolidge

1959: Susan Coolidge, the Horn Book Magazine of books and reading for children and young people. 14 pages in June 1959

References

  1. 1 2 Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight (24 October 2006) [1st Pub. 1874]. The history of the descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass. Vol. 1. J. F. Trow & son, printers and bookbinders. p. 288. ISBN 9781981482658.
  2. ↑ "Obituary" (PDF). New York Times. January 17, 1910. Retrieved February 2, 2011.