The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-11-11
FAMOUS PSHVDQTYAS.
How Well Known Authors Re-
ceiyed Their Nom dc PIumes'
AN INTERESTING SERIES
or Articles Showing How Many OF
tho Prominent Writer'S Came TO
Adopt the Names that brought
Them FpmS aud Fortune
[coPYAIsHT lssq,l
HISTORY OF AEANoUs NAME,
How did / come by my nom dePlame2
Most naturally and lepitimatplY.

| AAbNAAhN W = NeRNNN Hse~"f
How did / come by my nom deplame2
Most naturally and lsgitimately.
My mother gave it to mel the first
part at my birth, the second twenty
yearsatter,h
She was romantic and liberal enough
To fly In the face OF old, PuTitaniC, aud
prosalc family customs, aud called me
'Grace, y after a dear friend, an exCeed-
ingly lovely Girl OF Israelitish descent,
and the accomplished daughter of q rich
merchant OF Nav Haven. This Miss
Grace IngersUl, by the way, had his
tory. Her father seems TO have been
ambitious for her, for he took her 10
Paris. When she was Introduced into
high society, she was recognized as one
OF the beauties Of the court Of the First
Napoleon. She married a French
nobleman, on whose estates she mostly
passed the remainder Of her life, quietly,
and let US hope, happily, Isportsd her
pretty name during my infancy, up 10
the time OF my christening, which did
not take place till | was three years old,
Except that we were procrastinating
family. ! can give no reason for this
p0stponemsnt OF that sacred rite. Yet
/ have always been belated in such
matters. / did not have tho measles
Till waS in my teens, nor the scarlet
fever till was out OF my twenties."
AS III luck would have IL, just at the
time OF my christening, my dear mother
was confined to her room by illness, and
my more unromantic father stole a
march upon her, saying, II must have
this thing over" He took me to church,
when, wishing TO do honor to particular
friends OF his, sisters and maiden ladies,
HnriCh and rare" he bestowed on me,
with all due solemnities, the very 70.
spectacle but commonplace appellations
proper, "Sara"."Jane," a little redeemed
by the patronymic "Stuart,"
They were strange words TO me, and
felt doubly aggrleyed when the minister
not only aug cold water In my face, but
called ma names. Yet though to the
rest Of the world graceless, ! was always
Grace to my mother and when, In about
the year OF our LOrd-well, somewhere
this side Of the drift period" | wanted
a nom de plume for my magazine stories,
ETC., and called on my best friend 10 cog.
nominate me, she At once suggested my
Iespming the name which l had been
bastly and baptismally deprived OF. |
assenled, but my dear mother had
weakness for ALTERATION, and Grace"
and "Ingersoll" did not alliterate well.
SO she thought again, and In moments
time gave forth the word Greenwood
as the second name; which certainly had
the merit Of appropriateness for rural
writer, as then was much given 10 wild
rowing and wilder riding In the woods.
| had before become pretty well known,
and been generously encouraged w =
writer Of poems so.called-ullder my
own name. used only for my prose
letters and sketches the nom dc plume,
which for some time was q family secret
no that In tho literary society | more
than once heard my identity discussed.
used the new name first In the Home
Journal Of Morris 4 Willis.
The literary field for women Is not
only broader now than II was In those
days, but more inviting and llOwery,
with more honey TO the square acre, and
1t swarms with bees and butterflies,
bearing alliterative pseudonyms lhav0
often wanted to drop mine, as no longer
appropriate in any way; but 1t will not
be dropped. lifelong more to II than 1t
To me; and must remain to all intents
and purposes except CheCk.signing "but
that's not much''
GRACE GREENWOOD.