Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee (November 5, 1780-December 27, 1865) was an American author, best known for her 1837 novelette ''Three Experiments of Living'' which was published in more than 30 editions in the United States, and 10 in England. Lee was a popular novelist during her life, though her writing was not lauded and her success is now largely forgotten.Wright, Lyle H
Traditional Errors in American Biography
''

Huntington Library Quarterly ''Huntington Library Quarterly'' is an official publication of the Huntington Library. It is a quarterly academic journal produced by the Huntington Library and published by University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press (o ...

'', Vol. 5, No. 2 (Jan., 1942), pp. 273-76 (focusing on the actual facts of the publication date of ''Grace Seymour'' and whether it was largely lost in a fire).

Life

Lee was born in 1780 to physician Micajah Sawyer and Sibyll Farnham, in Newburyport, Massachusetts. She married George Gardiner Lee of Boston in 1807, on the same day her sister Mary Anna married

Philip Jeremiah Schuyler Philip Jeremiah Schuyler (January 21, 1768 – February 21, 1835) was an American politician from New York. His siblings included Angelica Schuyler, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and Margarita Schuyler Van Rensselaer. Life He was the son of ...

.Simmons, Nancy Craig, ed
The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson
p. 36 (1993) George Lee died in 1816 leaving Lee with three young daughters.
''The Daily News'' (14 December 2019)Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 3
p. 662 (1888) She then went to live with her brother William Sawyer, until his death in 1858. She died at age 85 in Boston in December 1865.

Writing

Lee wrote an appendix to an autobiography of

Hannah Adams Hannah Adams (October 2, 1755December 15, 1831) was an American author of books on comparative religion and early United States history. She was born in Medfield, Massachusetts and died in Brookline. Adams was the first woman in the U.S. who worke ...

in 1832, which older sources often cite as her first publication, although her little-noticed novel ''Grace Seymour'' was first published in 1830. '' Three Experiments of Living'' (1837), arising out of the financial crises of the Panic of 1837 was a bestseller for many years. According to the publisher, 20,000 copies were sold in its first two months of publication. Adams, Oscar Fay (16 January 1913)
Hannah Farnham Lee
''The Christian Register'' (note that this source misstates the year of her husband's death) It was followed by a successful sequel ''Elinor Fulton''. ''Three Experiments'' was in print for almost fifty years.Templin, Mary
Panic Fiction: Women's Responses to Antebellum Economic Crisis
in '' Legacy'', Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1-16 (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2004) Lee also wrote a number of non-fiction histories.Reforming the World: Social Activism and the Problem of Fiction in Nineteenth-Century America
pp. 73-78 (University of Iowa Press, 2008) The success of ''Three Experiments'' was illustrated by the quick imitations such as ''Fourth Experiment of Living: Living Without Means'' by Horatio Hastings Weld.Lepler, Jessica M
The Many Panics of 1837
p. 77-82 (2013)The Author of "Three Experiments of Living"
''The Monthly Religious Magazine'' (February 1866), pp. 28-30

Bibliography (incomplete)

* ''Grace Seymour'' (1830) * ''The Backslider'' (1835) * ''Three Experiments of Living'' (novel) (1837) * ''Elinor Fulton'' (1837) * ''The Contrast, or Modes of Education'' (1837) * ''The Harcourts'' (1837) * ''Rich Enough: A Tale of the Times'' (1837) * ''Historical Sketches of the Old Painters'' (1838) * ''The Life and Times of Martin Luther'' (1839) * ''Rosanna, or Scenes in Boston'' (1839) * ''The Life and Times of Thomas Cranmer'' (1841) * ''Tales'' (1842) * ''The Huguenots in France and America'' (1843) * ''The World Before You, or the Log Cabin'' (1847) * ''Stories from Life'' (1849) * ''Sketches and Stories From Life: For The Young'' (1850) * ''Memoir of Pierre Toussaint'' (1853) * ''Familiar Sketches of Sculptors and Sculpture'' (1854)

References

External links

Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee Autograph Collection
Massachusetts Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer 1780 births 1865 deaths American women novelists 19th-century American non-fiction writers 19th-century American women writers People from Newburyport, Massachusetts