Magdalene Merritt (, LaGrange; September 17, 1864 – 1935) was an American poet. She published two volumes, ''Songs of the Helderberg'' (1893) and ''Helderberg harmonies'' (1909).
Early life and education
Magdalene Isadora La Grange was born in
Guilderland, New York
Guilderland is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 2020 census, the town had a population of 36,848. The town is named for the Gelderland province in the Netherlands.
The town of Guilderland is on the central-northwest borde ...
, September 17, 1864. Her parents were Myndert (1815-1892) and Julia Ann (1821-1902), second cousins of Count Johannes de la Grange who emigrated to the United States in 1656 from
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
, France.
Magdalene's siblings included, James, Andrew, Eleanor, Myndert, Vanderzee, Julia, Norman, Hester, Angelica, Ada, Harlan, Clinton, and Mary.
Her family was of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
origin. The ancestral home, "Elmwood Farm",
was in the possession of the family for more than 200 years.
Merritt was educated in the
Albany Female College,
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
. She studied for three years with Prof. William P. Morgan.
Career
She began at an early age to write prose articles for the press. Some of her early poems were published and were so well-received that she continued writing others. Her songs were of the plaintive kind, religious and subjective in tone. Merritt's poems appeared in the
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
''Republican'', ''The American Agriculturist'', ''Christian Work'', ''Evangelist'',
and the ''Locomotive Engineers Journal''.
Her commemorative poem, "The Tried and True", was read aloud in Guilderland at services commemorating the town's history in 1890, 2003, and 2012.
A poetry collection, ''Songs of the Helderberg'', was issued in 1893, under her maiden name, and included her portrait on the frontispiece. A review of the collection by the ''Locomotive Engineers Journal'' (1893) mentioned,— "She generally choses simple themes, making them attractive with truth and deep feeling. One of the leading charms of her verse is its directness and simplicity of diction. the book is not only charming in itself, but interesting for its rich promise for the future."
She married Aaron Merritt of Voorheesville, locomotive engineer on the West Shore Railroad;
they had no children.
They lived on her farm, "Oak Knoll, located on the banks of the
Normans Kill
The Normans Kill is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 creek in New York's Capital District located in Schenectady and Albany counties. It flows southeas ...
.
''Helderberg harmonies'', published in 1909 under her married name, Magdalene Merritt,
includes views of
Helderberg
Helderberg refers to a planning district of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the mountain after which it is named, a wine-producing area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, or a small census area in Somerset West.
Or ...
by the landscape photographer, Clayton Le Gallez, of Albany.
Selected works
Magdalene I. La Grange
* ''Songs of the Helderberg'', 1893
Text
Magdalene Merritt
* ''Helderberg harmonies'', 1909
Text
References
Attribution
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Magdalene
1864 births
1935 deaths
19th-century American poets
20th-century American poets
19th-century American women writers
20th-century American women writers
American women poets
People from Guilderland, New York
Writers from New York (state)
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century