Ella Sterling Mighels (May 5, 1853 – December 10, 1934) (née: Ella Sterling Clark; during first marriage: Ella Sterling Cummins; pen name: Aurora Esmeralda) was a California pioneer, author and literary historian. She was born in

Mormon Island, California Mormon Island was once a mining town, which had an abundance of Mormon immigrants seeking gold in the American River during the California Gold Rush. Its site is in present-day Sacramento County, California. History Early in March 1848, W. Si ...

, but grew up in the town of

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

Esmeralda County, Nevada Esmeralda County is a county in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 729, making it the least populous county in Nevada. Esmeralda County does not have any incorporated communities. It ...

, leading her to adopt the pen name, "Aurora Esmeralda". She founded the California Literature Society (1913), and was named the "First Literary Historian of California" (1919). She died in San Francisco, and is buried in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

at the Mountain View Cemetery.

Biography

Her first husband was the philologist, author, lecturer and lawyer, Adley Cummins (d. 1889); they had one child, a daughter, Genevieve (1875–1905). Her second husband was the lawyer, newspaper artist, novelist and playwright Philip Verrill Mighels (d. 1911); they divorced 1910. Her in-laws were the US journalist and politician, Henry Rust Mighels, and the US civic leader and journalist, Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis. Mighels published two books on California literature and its authors. In ''The Story of the Files'' (1893), Ella told of California writers, in a volume published for the California World's Fair. In ''Literary California, poetry, Prose and Portraits'' (1918), Ella published selections and portraits of California authors.

Selected publications

* ''Portrait of a California girl'' (n.d.) * ''Books one ought to read'' (n.d.) * ''The little mountain princess, a Sierra snowplant'' (1880) * ''Explanation of Japanese village and its inhabitants'' (1886) * ''The story of the files; a review of California writers and literature'' (1893) * ''Bruvver Jim's baby'' (1904) * ''San Francisco redi-vivus! An open letter to all San Franciscans and all Californians'' (1907) * ''The full glory of Diantha'' (1909) * ''Society and Babe Robinson; or, The streets of old San Francisco; a play. Containing also frontispiece ... introduction, biographical sketch and portrait of author, and a "Word to the reader'' (1914) * ''Fairy tale of the white man : told from the gates of sunset'' (1915) * ''Literary California, poetry, prose and portraits'' (1918) * ''Wawona : an Indian story of the Northwest'' (1921) * ''Book of the Ark-adian school'' (1928) * ''Life and letters of a forty-niner's daughter by Aurora Esmeralda (Ella Sterling Mighels) ...'' (1929)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mighels, Ella Sterling 1853 births 1934 deaths American literary historians Historians of California Historians of the American West 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Sacramento County, California Writers from San Francisco American women historians People from Esmeralda County, Nevada Women literary historians Historians from California