Seawell, Molly Elliot, 1860-1916

Molly Elliot Seawell (October 23, 1853 – November 15, 1916), an early American historian and writer, was a descendant of the Seawells of Virginia and a grand niece of President John Tyler. Raised on a large plantation, her education included being "turned loose in a library of good books", her father's home containing the best literature of the 18th century. She read English classics, and was especially fond of poetry. She did not read a novel until after she was 17, and the first was Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield. Her three amusements were reading, riding and piano-playing. Her father, a prominent lawyer, died just as Seawell reached adulthood. Seawell sent some stories to Lippincott's Monthly Magazine when William S. Walsh was the editor. Recognizing Seawell's ability to be unusual, he encouraged her from the beginning. Her first stories were signed with a pen name till her friends persuaded her to sign her own name, which occurred after Maid Marian was published. This is considered her best story. She ventured into the genre of juvenile literature when she sent Little Jarvis to The Youth's Companion to contend for the US$500 prize. It is possible that Seawell's essay "On the Absence of Creative Faculty in Women" attracted more attention than any of her books. Women answered it, and the discussion was joined by Andrew Lang, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and others. The Critic stated that essay attracted more attention than any single article ever published in its columns. In style, Seawell was said to resemble Jane Austen. Seawell's works, besides numerous short stories, included: Young Heros of our Navy, Maid Marian and Other Stories, Midshipman Paulding, Hale Weston, Paul Jones, and The Midshipmen's Mess.