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Who is Fanny Fern?The name “Fanny Fern” first began to appear in newspaper columns in publications like Boston’s Olive Branch, and in the True Flag in 1851, and soon, newspapers all over the country began to republish Fern’s satirical works. The country was awed by Fern’s “satirical, outspoken, polemical — even outrageous” columns, leading readers to ask: “Who was Fanny Fern?”
“Fanny Fern” is a pen name for Sara Payson Willis, born in Portland, Maine in 1811. The daughter of a preacher, and the fifth of nine children, Sara’s willful spirit was seen as troublesome to her father. Deacon Willis (as he was known), was a strict Calvinist and deacon of the Park Street Church, known for its “fiery sermons” (Warren xi). He frowned upon ‘ungodly’ pursuits and would eventually send Sara to Hartford Female Seminary School in New Hampshire at the age of 16 because of her rebellious spirit; one that her farther wished to curb through religious instruction — the school was unable to mold Sara into the piety and discipline that her father had hoped for. |
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Deacon Willis believed that his daughter was “not sufficiently serious or fearful of God’s wrath” however, Sara disagreed with her father’s beliefs; her ideal of God was that of a nurturing, maternal figure, not a wrathful patriarch. Later in life, she would write: “the God my eyes see, is not a tyrant, driving his creatures to heaven through fear of hell…Who but God can comfort like a mother?…there is no word but save God which is so…heart-satisfying (xi). Sara would admit later in life that she had always been closer to her mother, even writing about her in amorous ways:
If there is any poetry in my nature, from my mother I inherited it…Had my mother’s time not been so constantly engrossed by a fast-increasing family, had she found time for literary pursuits, I am confident she would have distinguished herself. Her hurried letters, written with one foot upon the cradle, give ample evidence of this. She talked poetry unconsciously (xi). Fanny Fern’s columns speak constantly of her mother, revealing a strong bond between the two. |
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The columns also provide “perceptions of [how] her mother’s life helped her shape her later rebellion against masculine authority” (xi). Even as Sara adopted her pen name, “Fanny Fern,” she admitted that the name had more than likely been influenced by her mother; she recalled later in life that her name might have been derived from a memory of picking fern leaves for her mother (xxxvii).
Almost two decades after her enrollment at Hartford Seminary School, instructor Catherine Beecher remarked upon her former student, Sara: “[she was] the worst behaved girl in my school…and I loved [her] the best” (xii). Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was then a pupil-teacher at Hartford recalled Sara as “a bright, laughing witch of a half saint half sinner…writing always good compositions and fighting off…Arithmetic lessons” (xii). Despite her rebellious nature, Sara’s compositions did not go unnoticed. While in school, the editor of a local newspaper often stopped by the seminary, asking for “Miss Willis’s latest;” additionally, she read proof and wrote articles for The Recorder, the United States’ first religious newspaper, founded by her father. But although her composition skills excelled, the young Sara never put any though to her writing as a professional career, returning home in 1830, as she recalled later in life, to “learn the ‘Lost Arts’ of bread-making and button-hole stitching” (xi).
After several years at home, Sara married Charles Harrington Eldredge in 1837. From this marriage, Sara had three daughters: Mary Stace (1838), Grace Harrington (1841), and Ellen Willis (1844). She lived a brief life of happiness as a mother and wife. But during this time, her youngest sister, Ellen, died of childbirth complications; her mother died around the same time; and then Sara’s first born, Mary, died of brain fever. Fern recounted her child’s death in her first novel, Ruth Hall. The following year, in 1846, Charles died of typhoid fever. His death was followed by an lawsuit in which he lost, and once his creditors had been satisfied, and there were no more funds, Sara had to find a way to support herself and her two children. Her in-laws, who blamed Sara for her predicament, refused to support her. Her father reluctantly contributed some funds, and then urged her to remarry.
So at the suggestion of her father, and after trying some feeble attempts at income, Sara entered into “a marriage of convenience” with her second husband, Samuel P. Farrington, in 1849 (32). This marriage proved to be controlling and abusive, and Sara took an unprecedented step in obtaining a divorce in 1851 — a move that shocked her friends and family. Years after, Fern never spoke of Farrington but she did use their marriage as a plot point in one of her novels, Rose Clark.
Scandalized by her contemporaries, and after trying her luck at being a seamstress, and then a teacher, Sara found that she could not support her two surviving daughters: Grace and Ellen. Therefore, she was forced to let her first husband’s family, the Eldredges, take her elder daughter while she and Ellen lived on a low-income in a boarding home.
In a desperate attempt for income, Sara decided to attempt writing for newspapers. Her first piece, published in the Olive Branch in 1851, earned her fifty cents. Encouraged, she sent articles to her older brother who was the editor of the New York Home Journal, asking for his help; however, he refused to help his sister. He wrote he was “ashamed to have any editor know that a sister of his had written anything so ‘vulgar’ and ‘indecent’ and advised her to write for the religious papers,” ultimately asking her to change her tone.
Undeterred, and assuming her pen name, Fern persevered and was soon writing several articles a week for the Olive Branch, and the True Flag for two dollars a column; at two columns for one newspaper and one for the other, she earned six dollars a week. This meant that Sara wrote around five to ten articles a week. In 1852, Fern was contacted by the Musical World and Times with an offer to write exclusively for them, at a higher rate. Two weeks later, Fern’s first article appeared under the header: “Fanny Fern’s Column.” Thus, Fern became the first female columnist in the United States.
Devastated at their loss, the Olive Branch and the True Flag newspapers began to offer an increase in their compensation rate for her columns. In 1853, Fern was presented with an offer from James Derby of the Derby and Miller publishing firm, to publish a collection of her columns with the choice of making ten cents a copy in royalties or one thousand dollars to purchase the copyright. Fern chose to collect the royalties — a wise decision. The collection, titled Fern Leaves from Fanny’s Portfolio, published in June 1853, sold seventy thousand copies in less than a year; another twenty-nine thousand copies were sold in England (xvi). Later that year, Derby and Miller released a collection for children, Little Fern’s for Fanny’s Little Friends, and in 1854, a second collection of her columns was released: Fern Leaves. In 1854, Fern’s works had sold a total of 180,000 copies.
With the money made from her book, Fern moved from Boston to New York with her youngest daughter Ellen and then reclaimed Grace. After her move, Fern continued to write for the Musical World and Times, and wrote a brief time for Philadelphia’s Saturday Evening Post.
In 1854, almost half a decade after she had began her writing career, the editor of the True Flag newspaper, William U. Moulton wrote began a series of articles in his newspaper revealing details about the “secret identity” of the famous columnist, Fanny Fern. Fueled by his anger and loss of Fern’s work for his own publication, Moulton’s articles helped put into context the true story behind her first book, Ruth Hall, which was based on her own life and whose characters were molded around real life models, and although fictionalized, the characters were easily recognizable once her identity was known. Although the results were devastating for Fern personally, the ridiculing articles helped her book sales increase; sales of Ruth Hall climbed to 70,000 copies sold. At the end of her career, Fern would go on to publish two novels, a novella, six collections of columns and three books for children — the sales of which were driven by her popularity and witty writing style.
After her establishment as a successful writer in New York, Fanny Fern, age 44 at the time, married her third and final husband, James Parton, age 33, whom had been her constant — and perhaps earliest — companion, dated back to her days in the editorial offices of her brother, N.P. Willis; he also was the inspiration for one of the characters in her novel, Ruth Hall. The two were married on January 5, 1856 after signing a prenuptial agreement “stating that Fanny Fern’s property was hers alone, ultimately to become her children’s” (xviii); a radical move for a woman at the time. Fanny expressed her satisfaction with her newfound independence in a column titled, “My Old Ink-Stand and I.”
Fern was a professional newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, her columns appearing in the New York Ledger regularly for sixteen years. Remarkably, her dedication to the paper, her success and to her readers never faltered, seeing that she never missed a contribution (xx). Not even telling her close friends of her impending death, Fern continued to write until the very end. When she lost use of her right arm, she wrote with her left hand, and “when that became impossible, she dictated her columns to her daughter or her husband” (xx). Fern died on October 10, 1872 of cancer. As a sign to her extreme dedication, her last column appeared in the New York Ledger two days after her death.
Almost two decades after her enrollment at Hartford Seminary School, instructor Catherine Beecher remarked upon her former student, Sara: “[she was] the worst behaved girl in my school…and I loved [her] the best” (xii). Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was then a pupil-teacher at Hartford recalled Sara as “a bright, laughing witch of a half saint half sinner…writing always good compositions and fighting off…Arithmetic lessons” (xii). Despite her rebellious nature, Sara’s compositions did not go unnoticed. While in school, the editor of a local newspaper often stopped by the seminary, asking for “Miss Willis’s latest;” additionally, she read proof and wrote articles for The Recorder, the United States’ first religious newspaper, founded by her father. But although her composition skills excelled, the young Sara never put any though to her writing as a professional career, returning home in 1830, as she recalled later in life, to “learn the ‘Lost Arts’ of bread-making and button-hole stitching” (xi).
After several years at home, Sara married Charles Harrington Eldredge in 1837. From this marriage, Sara had three daughters: Mary Stace (1838), Grace Harrington (1841), and Ellen Willis (1844). She lived a brief life of happiness as a mother and wife. But during this time, her youngest sister, Ellen, died of childbirth complications; her mother died around the same time; and then Sara’s first born, Mary, died of brain fever. Fern recounted her child’s death in her first novel, Ruth Hall. The following year, in 1846, Charles died of typhoid fever. His death was followed by an lawsuit in which he lost, and once his creditors had been satisfied, and there were no more funds, Sara had to find a way to support herself and her two children. Her in-laws, who blamed Sara for her predicament, refused to support her. Her father reluctantly contributed some funds, and then urged her to remarry.
So at the suggestion of her father, and after trying some feeble attempts at income, Sara entered into “a marriage of convenience” with her second husband, Samuel P. Farrington, in 1849 (32). This marriage proved to be controlling and abusive, and Sara took an unprecedented step in obtaining a divorce in 1851 — a move that shocked her friends and family. Years after, Fern never spoke of Farrington but she did use their marriage as a plot point in one of her novels, Rose Clark.
Scandalized by her contemporaries, and after trying her luck at being a seamstress, and then a teacher, Sara found that she could not support her two surviving daughters: Grace and Ellen. Therefore, she was forced to let her first husband’s family, the Eldredges, take her elder daughter while she and Ellen lived on a low-income in a boarding home.
In a desperate attempt for income, Sara decided to attempt writing for newspapers. Her first piece, published in the Olive Branch in 1851, earned her fifty cents. Encouraged, she sent articles to her older brother who was the editor of the New York Home Journal, asking for his help; however, he refused to help his sister. He wrote he was “ashamed to have any editor know that a sister of his had written anything so ‘vulgar’ and ‘indecent’ and advised her to write for the religious papers,” ultimately asking her to change her tone.
Undeterred, and assuming her pen name, Fern persevered and was soon writing several articles a week for the Olive Branch, and the True Flag for two dollars a column; at two columns for one newspaper and one for the other, she earned six dollars a week. This meant that Sara wrote around five to ten articles a week. In 1852, Fern was contacted by the Musical World and Times with an offer to write exclusively for them, at a higher rate. Two weeks later, Fern’s first article appeared under the header: “Fanny Fern’s Column.” Thus, Fern became the first female columnist in the United States.
Devastated at their loss, the Olive Branch and the True Flag newspapers began to offer an increase in their compensation rate for her columns. In 1853, Fern was presented with an offer from James Derby of the Derby and Miller publishing firm, to publish a collection of her columns with the choice of making ten cents a copy in royalties or one thousand dollars to purchase the copyright. Fern chose to collect the royalties — a wise decision. The collection, titled Fern Leaves from Fanny’s Portfolio, published in June 1853, sold seventy thousand copies in less than a year; another twenty-nine thousand copies were sold in England (xvi). Later that year, Derby and Miller released a collection for children, Little Fern’s for Fanny’s Little Friends, and in 1854, a second collection of her columns was released: Fern Leaves. In 1854, Fern’s works had sold a total of 180,000 copies.
With the money made from her book, Fern moved from Boston to New York with her youngest daughter Ellen and then reclaimed Grace. After her move, Fern continued to write for the Musical World and Times, and wrote a brief time for Philadelphia’s Saturday Evening Post.
In 1854, almost half a decade after she had began her writing career, the editor of the True Flag newspaper, William U. Moulton wrote began a series of articles in his newspaper revealing details about the “secret identity” of the famous columnist, Fanny Fern. Fueled by his anger and loss of Fern’s work for his own publication, Moulton’s articles helped put into context the true story behind her first book, Ruth Hall, which was based on her own life and whose characters were molded around real life models, and although fictionalized, the characters were easily recognizable once her identity was known. Although the results were devastating for Fern personally, the ridiculing articles helped her book sales increase; sales of Ruth Hall climbed to 70,000 copies sold. At the end of her career, Fern would go on to publish two novels, a novella, six collections of columns and three books for children — the sales of which were driven by her popularity and witty writing style.
After her establishment as a successful writer in New York, Fanny Fern, age 44 at the time, married her third and final husband, James Parton, age 33, whom had been her constant — and perhaps earliest — companion, dated back to her days in the editorial offices of her brother, N.P. Willis; he also was the inspiration for one of the characters in her novel, Ruth Hall. The two were married on January 5, 1856 after signing a prenuptial agreement “stating that Fanny Fern’s property was hers alone, ultimately to become her children’s” (xviii); a radical move for a woman at the time. Fanny expressed her satisfaction with her newfound independence in a column titled, “My Old Ink-Stand and I.”
Fern was a professional newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, her columns appearing in the New York Ledger regularly for sixteen years. Remarkably, her dedication to the paper, her success and to her readers never faltered, seeing that she never missed a contribution (xx). Not even telling her close friends of her impending death, Fern continued to write until the very end. When she lost use of her right arm, she wrote with her left hand, and “when that became impossible, she dictated her columns to her daughter or her husband” (xx). Fern died on October 10, 1872 of cancer. As a sign to her extreme dedication, her last column appeared in the New York Ledger two days after her death.
Fern's Legacy
Fern and wrote on numerous topics, however, one of her most unusually insightful topics, for a woman of her time, was that of women and equal rights. For Fern, as noted in her multitude of columns, the world was not lost upon women; it was only a matter of learning how to circumvent the current situation of gender inequality. Fern was not a part of any feminist movement; she was not an active member of the women’s right movement and would not make a speech or attend a meeting until later in life (xxxvi). Fern’s feminism was practical and was based on her life experience; a source that evoked much of her sarcasm and satire. Yet, she still had “a sympathy for the oppressed an a hatred of injustice that caused her to deal often with social issues” (xxxi).
Despite her sympathies, it was not her advocation for women’s rights and other social concerns that made Fanny Fern so unique — it was her popularity during her time. Her popularity is attributed to what scholar Joyce Warren refers to as “original style and the vivid rendering of ideas….an ability to give life to the flaws she saw in society” (xxxii). Her writing had a way of stripping others — especially men — of their “grandiose airs and pompous self-complacency,” satirizing “folly and prevention in all facets of life” (xxxii). Fern embraced the idea of an independent woman, not bound by conventionalities; she resented submissive wives and controlling husbands. She sympathized for women who lived out “treadmill lives” (xxxiii). Fern advocated for women’s careers and education, equal pay, family planning; encouraged women to support one another and pursue new opportunities; utilize divorce when necessary; and deplored the double sexual standard. She is noted as saying that “women must look out for themselves…and refuse to allow themselves to be victimized by the misuse of masculine authority” (xxxiii).
Fanny Fern lived her feminism — through her life, her career, her rebelliousness, refusal to conform, and her desire to succeed — as aforementioned, Fern’s feminism was practical. It was this practicality that fueled her creative wit and writing style, gaining her popularity among her readers for several decades. It was notoriety that earned her the title of “our grandmother’s mentor,” but the title truly encompasses what Fanny Fern did; Fern mentored female (and male) readers of the nineteenth-century through making an example of her own opinions, struggles, successes — her own life. It was this “realness” and desire to challenge aspects of society that drove her popularity; and it is for this same reason that I hope to bring Fanny Fern’s writing back into the public’s working memory.
Despite her sympathies, it was not her advocation for women’s rights and other social concerns that made Fanny Fern so unique — it was her popularity during her time. Her popularity is attributed to what scholar Joyce Warren refers to as “original style and the vivid rendering of ideas….an ability to give life to the flaws she saw in society” (xxxii). Her writing had a way of stripping others — especially men — of their “grandiose airs and pompous self-complacency,” satirizing “folly and prevention in all facets of life” (xxxii). Fern embraced the idea of an independent woman, not bound by conventionalities; she resented submissive wives and controlling husbands. She sympathized for women who lived out “treadmill lives” (xxxiii). Fern advocated for women’s careers and education, equal pay, family planning; encouraged women to support one another and pursue new opportunities; utilize divorce when necessary; and deplored the double sexual standard. She is noted as saying that “women must look out for themselves…and refuse to allow themselves to be victimized by the misuse of masculine authority” (xxxiii).
Fanny Fern lived her feminism — through her life, her career, her rebelliousness, refusal to conform, and her desire to succeed — as aforementioned, Fern’s feminism was practical. It was this practicality that fueled her creative wit and writing style, gaining her popularity among her readers for several decades. It was notoriety that earned her the title of “our grandmother’s mentor,” but the title truly encompasses what Fanny Fern did; Fern mentored female (and male) readers of the nineteenth-century through making an example of her own opinions, struggles, successes — her own life. It was this “realness” and desire to challenge aspects of society that drove her popularity; and it is for this same reason that I hope to bring Fanny Fern’s writing back into the public’s working memory.
Works Cited:
Warren, Joyce W. Introduction. “Ruth Hall and Other Writings.” Edited by Joyce W. Warren. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1986.
Warren, Joyce W. Introduction. “Ruth Hall and Other Writings.” Edited by Joyce W. Warren. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1986.
