Grace Donworth (July 22, 1857 – November 25, 1945) was an American writer and artist, based in Maine. Mark Twain promoted her "Jennie Allen" books to his audiences.[1]
Grace Donworth | |
|---|---|
 Grace Donworth, from a 1909 publication | |
| Born | July 22, 1857 Machias, Maine, US |
| Died | November 25, 1945 (aged 88) Machias, Maine, US |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, artist |
| Relatives | George Donworth (brother) |
Early life
editDonworth was born on July 22, 1857, in Machias, Maine,[2] the daughter of Patrick Enright Donworth and Mary Eliza Baker Donworth.[3] Her father was a lumberman, and her four brothers became lawyers.[4] Her brother George Donworth was a judge in Washington state.[5] Her younger brother Albert B. Donworth was also a writer.[6][7] She graduated from Notre Dame Academy, with further art training in Boston.[3]
Career
editDonworth taught school in Massachusetts and Maine.[3] She was regent of the Machias chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).[8] She also belonged to the American Folklore Society and the Boston Authors' Club.[9]
Donworth joined other women in Providence, Rhode Island, to assemble relief shipments to the victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; while there, she wrote humorous letters to a fellow aid worker, Miss Stockbridge, in the persona of an "unsophisticated and old fashioned"[10] seamstress. Those became her "Jennie Allen" stories. Stockbridge shared the letters with her brother and with a DAR meetings, and they eventually came to the attention of Mark Twain.[3]
Mark Twain enjoyed Donworth's "Jennie Allen" writings.[4] They were first presented to him as genuine correspondence,[11] but he soon knew they were Donworth's creation: "'Jennie's' letters are an innocent fraud, and a quite justifiable one, since they make pleasant reading and can harm no one," he wrote in a 1906 letter.[12][13] He helped her find a publisher, and promoted her works to his audiences.[3] In Everybody's Magazine, J. B. Kerfoot called The Letters of Jennie Allen "the best piece of homely fun of the year."[14]
Publications
edit- The Letters of Jennie Allen (1908)[15] (first published in Ladies' Home Journal)[3]
- Down Home with Jennie Allen (1910)[16]
Personal life
editDonworth died in Machias, on November 25, 1945, aged 88.[17] Her papers are in the Maine State Library.[18]
References
edit- ^ "Mark Twain Helped 'Jennie Allen' to Fame". The Virginian-Pilot. 1912-04-28. p. 32. Retrieved 2024-09-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Donworth House, Machias". Tides Institute & Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
- ^ a b c d e f Lord, Alice Frost (1944-07-29). "Machias Woman Artist and Humorist; Mark Twain Helped Spread Fame of Miss Donworth". Sun-Journal. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-09-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Maine Willowy Girl's Wit Captivated Mark Twain". The Boston Globe. 1912-03-17. p. 73. Retrieved 2024-09-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Who's who in America. A.N. Marquis. 1924. p. 986.
- ^ "Donworth, Albert Bernard, 1867-". The Online Books Page. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
- ^ Donworth, Albert Bernard (1953). Why Columbus Sailed. Exposition Press.
- ^ Proceedings of the ... Continental Congress of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Congress. 1915. p. 974.
- ^ Marquis, Albert Nelson (1915). Who's who in New England: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. A.N. Marquis. p. 340.
- ^ "Letters of Jennie Allen". The Inter Ocean. 1908-10-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-09-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Gilder, Jeannette L. (May 1912). "Women Writers as Humorists: Some Books that have Made Us Laugh". Ladies' Home Companion. 39: 22.
- ^ "Grace Donworth" Putnam's Magazine 5(6)(March 1909): 755-757.
- ^ Twain, Mark (2010). Autobiography of Mark Twain. University of California Press. p. 245-247.
- ^ Kerfoot, J. B. "A Row of Books" Everybody's Magazine 20(2)(February 1909): 435.
- ^ "More Letters" The Canadian Magazine 32(4)(February 1909): 386.
- ^ "Down Home with Jennie Allen" The Publishers' Weekly 2026(November 26, 1910): 106.
- ^ "Grace Donworth, Author of Note, Dies in Machias". The Bangor Daily News. 1945-11-27. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-09-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Donworth, Grace; Self, Grace; Self, F. D.; Gold, Carol; Jacob, Hilda (2015-09-11). "Grace Donworth Correspondence". Maine Writers Correspondence.