Ellen Smith Tupper (April 9, 1822 – March 12, 1888) was an American writer, expert

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

and the first female editor of an entomological journal.

Early life

Ellen Smith was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, the daughter of Noah Smith and Hannah Draper Wheaton Smith. Hannah Smith died when Ellen was young, and Ellen was raised in

Calais, Maine Calais is a city in Washington County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,079, making Calais the third least-populous city in Maine (after Hallowell and Eastport). The city has three Canada–US border cro ...

after 1833. Her maternal uncle was diplomat

Henry Wheaton Henry Wheaton (November 27, 1785 – March 11, 1848) was a United States lawyer, jurist and diplomat. He was the third reporter of decisions for the United States Supreme Court, the first U.S. minister to Denmark, and the second U.S. minister to ...

Career

Tupper taught school in her home in Iowa when her children were young, earning money by adding paying students to her children's lessons. She started keeping bees in Iowa by 1860. Shortly before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

she started to write short articles on her first experiences in beekeeping, which were published in a local newspaper. In 1871, she and Annie Savery started the Italian Bee Company, based in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, to import and sell Italian honey bees in the American midwest. "She attends personally to all shipments of bees, honey, extractors, hives, etc., to all her correspondence and her bees," noted a profile in 1873. She attended the North American Bee-Keepers Convention in Cleveland in 1871, and in Indianapolis in 1872, and was quoted as a national expert on apiary management the following year. Tupper was editor of ''The Bee-Keepers' Journal'' from 1873 to 1875'','' and taught bee-keeping at the State Agricultural College of Iowa. She also wrote for ''American Bee Journal'', ''Prairie Farmer,'' The National Bee Journal and ''Youth's Companion.'' Tupper lost two hundred hives in a fire in 1873, a major blow to her work. "I have worked so hard and am so tired, that I can form no plans for the future," she said at the time. She was selected to coordinate the bee exhibit at the 1876 Philadelphia

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

. However, in January 1876 she was arrested on forgery charges. "It appears that she freely used the names of relatives and friends, and in addition, forged the names of leading citizens of various cities of Iowa," in signing checks, according to a report at the time. She was found "not guilty, the defendant being insane, and not responsible for her acts". In time she was released and relocated to

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

Personal life

Ellen Smith married Allen Tupper, a lumberman and aspiring Baptist minister, in 1843. The Tuppers moved to Iowa in 1851. Among their eleven children were two Unitarian ministers,

Eliza Tupper Wilkes Eliza Mason Tupper Wilkes (October 8, 1844 – February 5, 1917) was an American suffragist and Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist minister. Early life Eliza Mason Tupper was born in Houlton, Maine, the daughter of Allen Tupper and ...

and

Mila Tupper Maynard Mila Tupper Maynard (née Mila Frances Tupper; January 26, 1864 – November 12, 1926) was an American Unitarian minister, writer, social reformer and suffragist. She is thought to have been the first female minister in Nevada. Early years Born ...

, and educator

Kate Tupper Galpin Kate Tupper Galpin (née Kate Tupper, 3 August 1855 – 1906) was an American educator and woman's club leader. For several years President of the Woman's Parliament of Southern California, Galpin was a natural teacher. Before instituting her clas ...

. Artist

Allen Tupper True Allen Tupper True (May 30, 1881 – November 1, 1955) was an American illustrator, easel painter and muralist who specialized in depicting the American West. Biography Allen Tupper True was born May 30, 1881, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the ...

was her grandson. Ellen Smith Tupper was widowed in 1879, and died from heart disease in 1888, aged 65 years, in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, while staying with another daughter, Margaret Tupper True, there. Her grave is in

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupper, Ellen Smith 1822 births 1888 deaths People from Providence, Rhode Island American beekeepers American editors People acquitted by reason of insanity Women beekeepers