CHAMPNEY, Mrs. Elizabeth W., author, born in Springfield, Ohio,
6th February 1850. Her father was Judge S. E. Williams. She was
educated in Vassar College and was graduated in 1869. During her
girlhood she dreamed of literature as a profession, and she wrote many
romances that were never printed. In 1876 she began to publish short
sketches, poems and romances in large numbers. She contributed to
"Harper's Magazine" and the "Century" a series of observations on her
travels in England, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, as well as
other oriental lands. Among these papers was a striking one on
Portugal, another on "A Neglected Corner of Europe," and a third "In
the Footsteps of Fortuny and Regnault." Since her return to the
United States she has written about a score of volumes. Her novels
are "Bourbon Lilies" and "Rosemary and Rue." Her stories for youth
include "All Around a Palette" and "Howling Wolf and his Trick Pony."
Among her historical stories for youth is "Great Grandmother Girls in
New France" suggested by the Indian massacre in Deerfield, Mass. One
of her most successful works is "Three Vassar Girls Abroad" which
consists of ten volumes. Mrs. Champney writes much on solicitation
by publishers, and her time is thus too much taken up to permit her
to indulge her bent and talent for poems and short stories. Her
popularity has dated from the appearance of the Vassar series. She
became the wife of J. Wells Champney, the artist, 15th May 1875.
Their union is a singularly happy one in every way. Mr. Champney
has done some of his best work in illustrating his gifted wife's
books. They have one son, Edward Frere. They make their winter
home in New York City, and their summers are spent in "Elmstead,"
the old-fashioned house built in Deerfield, Mass.,
by Mrs. Champney's grandfather.
A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Eds. Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore. Charles Wells Moulton, 1893.
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