Ethel Lynn Beers (born Ethelinda Eliot; January 13, 1827 – October 11, 1879) was an American poet best known for her patriotic and sentimental
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
poem "
All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight".
Biography
Ethelinda Eliot was born in
Goshen, New York
Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange County ...
on January 13, 1827. She was a descendant of
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
John Eliot. When she began writing and publishing, she signed her name as "Ethel Lynn" because she thought her last name was too "tame and commonplace". At age 19, she married William H. Beers and appended her married name to her poems. Her most famous poem, "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight", first appeared in ''
Harper's Weekly
''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...
'' on November 30, 1861, under the title "The Picket Guard". Her poems — including other notable works like "Weighing the Baby", "Which Shall It Be?", and "Baby Looking Out For Me" — appeared in many publications, most frequently the ''
New York Ledger
''The New York Ledger'' was a weekly story paper published in Manhattan, New York. It was established in 1855 by Robert E. Bonner, by transforming the weekly financial journal called ''The Merchant's Ledger'' that he had purchased in 1851. Bo ...
''. In 1863 she published ''General Frankie: a Story for Little Folks''. She feared publishing her collected works as she thought she would die after its publication, a premonition which came true. The day after the publication of ''All Quiet Along the Potomac and Other Poems'' she died in
Orange, New Jersey
The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000.
Orange was original ...
.
Publications
* Noonday Rest (1869)
(1879)
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beers, Ethel Lynn
1827 births
1879 deaths
People from Goshen, New York
People from Essex County, New Jersey
American people of English descent
Poets from New York (state)
American women poets
19th-century American poets
19th-century American women writers