Augusta Huiell Seaman (April 3, 1879 – June 5, 1950) was an American author of
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
.
Augusta Huiell Seaman was born Augusta Curtiss Huiell in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, on April 3, 1879, the daughter of the bookkeeper John Valentine Huiell and his third wife, Anna Curtiss.
She graduated from Normal College (later renamed
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
) in New York City in 1900 and went on to teach elementary school. She married Robert Seaman in 1906.
Following her marriage, she devoted her time to writing. Her career writing mysteries for children began with the publication of ''The Boarded up House'' which ran serially in ''
St. Nicholas Magazine
''St. Nicholas Magazine'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by th ...
'' in 1914.
Her only child, Helen Roberta (Bobbie) was born in 1915. Her husband Robert died in 1927. In 1928 she married her second husband,
Francis Parkman Freeman, foreman of the
Phipps estate in
Island Beach, New Jersey
Island Beach was a borough that existed in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, from 1933 to 1965.
Island Beach was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on June 23, 1933, from portions of Berkeley Township, Lace ...
(now part of
Berkeley Township, the setting for several of her later books). While living in Island Beach, Augusta held various offices in the local government, including Borough clerk, Tax Collector, and Borough Registrar.
Over her career Seaman wrote and published over forty books for young people.
She died at age seventy-one and is interred at
Rosedale Cemetery in
Orange, New Jersey.
Books
A few of Seaman's books have been reprinted, but many remain out of print. The rarest of her books are much sought after by collectors. Several of her novels were translated into Norwegian, Danish, and French.
* ''Jacqueline of the Carrier Pigeons'' (1910)
* ''When a Cobbler Ruled a King'' (1911)
opyright expired* ''Little Mamselle of the Wilderness'' (1913)
opyright expired* ''The Boarded-Up House'' (1915)
opyright expired* ''The Sapphire Signet'' (1916)
opyright expired* ''The Girl Next Door'' (1917)
opyright expired* ''Three Sides of Paradise Green'' (1918)
opyright expired* ''Melissa-Across-the-Fence'' (1918)
opyright expired* ''The Slipper Point Mystery'' (1919)
opyright expired* ''Americans All; Stories to Tell Boys and Girls of Ten to Twelve'' (1919)
opyright expired* ''The Crimson Patch'' (1920)
opyright expired* ''The Dragon's Secret'' (1921)
opyright expired* ''The Mystery at Number Six'' (1922)
opyright expired* ''Tranquility House'' (1923)
* ''Sally Simms Adventures It'' (1924)
* ''The Edge of Raven Pool'' (1924)
* ''Bluebonnet Bend'' (1924)
* ''The Secret of Tate's Beach'' (1926)
*
The Adventure of the Seven Keyholes' (1926)
*
The Shadow on the Dial' (1927)
* ''The Disappearance of Anne Shaw'' (1928)
* ''A Book of Mysteries: Three Baffling Tales'' (1929)
* ''The Charlemonte Crest: A Mystery of Modern Haiti'' (1930)
*
The Brass Keys of Kenwick' (1931)
* ''The House in Hidden Lane: Two Mysteries for Younger Girls'' (1931)
* ''The Stars of Sabra'' (1932)
* ''The Inn Of The Twin Anchors (1932) -reprinted as The Mystery of the Old Violin
* ''The Mystery of the Empty Room'' (1933)
* ''Bitsy Finds the Clue: A Mystery of Williamsburg, Old and New"' (1934)
* ''The Riddle at Live Oaks'' (1934)
*
The Figurehead of the 'Folly'' (1935)
* ''The Strange Pettingill Puzzle: Two Mysteries for Boys and Girls'' (1936)
* ''Voice in the Dark'' (1937)
opyright was not renewed* ''The Pine Barrens Mystery'' (1937)
* ''The Vanderlyn Silhouette'' (1938)
opyright was not renewed* ''The Mystery at Linden Hall'' (1939)
opyright was not renewed*
The Curious Affair at Heron Shoals' (1940)
opyright was not renewed* ''The Missing Half'' (1941)
opyright was not renewed*
The Case of the Calico Crab' (1942)
* ''The Mystery of the Folding Key'' (1943)
opyright was not renewed* ''The Half-Penny Adventure'' (1945)
* ''The Mystery of the Other House'' (1947)
* ''The Vanishing Octant Mystery'' (1949)
References
External links
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Augusta Huiell Seaman at Bookfever.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaman, Augusta Huiell
1879 births
1950 deaths
American children's writers
Burials at Rosedale Cemetery (Orange, New Jersey)
Hunter College alumni
People from Berkeley Township, New Jersey
American women children's writers
20th-century American novelists
American women novelists
20th-century American women writers
Writers from New York City
Novelists from New York (state)
Novelists from New Jersey