Mary Westbrook Van Deusen (February 13, 1829 – October 16, 1908), publishing under the name Mary Westbrook, was an American author of prose and verse.

Career

She was born Mary Amanda Westbrook in

Fishkill, New York Fishkill is a village (New York), village within the Fishkill (town), New York, town of Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is in the eastern part of the town of Fishkill o ...

, the daughter of Cornelius de Puy Westbrook, a pastor of the Dutch Church in nearby Peekskill, and Sarah (Beekman) Westbrook. In 1865 she married James Lansing Van Deusen of

Rondout, New York Rondout (pronounced "ron doubt"), is situated in Ulster County, New York on the Hudson River at the mouth of Rondout Creek. Originally a maritime village, the arrival of the Delaware and Hudson Canal helped create a city that dwarfed nearby Kingsto ...

. She published both prose and poetry, mainly through the Freeman Company, of

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

. Her 1883 novel ''Rachel Du Mont: A Brave Little Maid of the Revolution'' was about the burning of Kingston during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. It was successful enough to go through three editions in one year.

Books

;Novels *''Rachel Du Mont'' (1883) *''Gertrude Willoughby'' ;Verse *"Voices of My Heart"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Deusen, Mary Westbrook 1829 births 1908 deaths 19th-century American women writers American children's writers 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American poets People from Fishkill, New York Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century