Amanda Minnie Douglas was born on 14 July 1831
(some sources erroneously list 1837) in New York City, the daughter of
John and Elizabeth Douglas. She attended the City Institute there, and,
after 1853 (when the family moved to Newark, New Jersey), continued her
education in English and American literature with a private tutor.
According to a contemporaneous biographical sketch, "In childhood she
was noted for her powers of story-telling, when she would tell her friends
long tales, regular serials, that would continue for weeks." [1]
Douglas was planning to study engraving and design when family illness
intervened: she was eighteen at the time and her presence and income were
needed at home, so she took up writing, selling stories to various
periodicals, including the Saturday Evening Post, New York Ledger,
and Lady's Friend. As Douglas explained "I had no thought of
becoming a novelist, as I was so interested in other pursuits; but the
path seemed to open, and others proved quite impossible, as I could not
leave my home." [2]
She remained in Newark, and apparently kept intellectually active, joining
"the Ray Palmer club--the oldest woman's literary organization in the
locality" and the New Jersey Women's Press Club. [3] She was
acquainted with several writers, including Edgar Allen Poe, and was
friends with Louisa May Alcott.
In addition to her writing, Douglas helped develop several inventions, and
even patented one: "a folding frame for a mosquito-net, to be used by
travellers, artists, and others." [4]
Douglas was a prolific writer; from 1866 to 1913, she usually published
one or more books per year and wrote for adults as well as children. In
Trust, her first book (an adult novel), was published in 1866, and its
sales surpassed 20,000 copies. Unfortunately, Douglas had sold the
copyright along with the story and thus failed to benefit fully from its
success. Learning from her experience, she retained copyright on
subsequent books.
Her first girls' series, Kathie (1870-1871), was somewhat didactic and
very much in the style of 19th-century series; her next, "Little
Girl" (e.g., A Little Girl in Old Boston, A Little Girl in Old
Philadelphia), was among the earliest historical fiction series for
girls. In 1893, she received a $2000 prize for the best work of juvenile
fiction from Youth's Companion for a non-series title, Larry.
More than ten years after her death, the entry in Dictionary of
American Biography noted that "during her long life her books
circulated widely and even to-day they are in constant demand in public
and Sunday-school libraries."
Her biographical sketch in A Woman of the Century (1893) also noted
"Douglas has suffered much from long illness, but she keeps up
courage . . . She is a fluent talker and well informed on current
events."[5]
Douglas never married. She died 18 July 1916 in Newark.
Contributed by Frank PolkinghornFrank Polkinghorn:
Her parents, were John and Elizabeth Douglas .
John Nelson Douglas was the son of Daniel and Martha (Dixon) Douglas. He
was born 24 Feb 1807 in Hanover Neck (now East Hanover), Morris, New Jersey.
Elizabeth, the daughter of Stephen and Hannah (Underhill) Horton of Yonkers,
NY. She was born 11 Jun 1803 in Yonkers. They were married 20 Dec 1828 in
New York by Samuel Eastman.
They had four children:
- Oscar Augustus, b. Newark, NJ, 9 Sep 1829;
- Amanda Minnie, b. New York City 14 July 1831;
- Charles, b. Poughkeepsie, NY 3 Oct 1833,;and Annie, b. 25 July 1835,
location unknown.
- John Nelson died on Staten Island, NY 4 Oct 1884. His widow died there
2 Aug 1891.
They are buried in the Moravian Cemetery (owned by the United Bretherens
Church on Staten Island), New Dorp, Staten Island. They are buried in the
Smith/Baldwin plot; they have no tombstone.
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