Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1923-12-21
EDNA D. PROCTOR
DIES, AGED "a
Distinguished Poetess of Past
Generation Once School
mistress at Woodstock
Friend of Whittier and Beeeher--
Governess 10 Bowen Family

Governess 10 Bowen Family
Edna Dean Proctor, poetess Of q
generation ago. a friend Of whittier,
Beecher and Longfellow. and az one
time a schoolmistress IN the Wood
stock Academy. died on Tuesday Of
this week at birmingham Mass. Miss
Proctor was in her ninety-fiftn year
but only within the past year has she
not always enjoyed robust health.
Miss Pr0c1or's connection with
Woodstock was during her girlhood
when she came to the Academy TO
teach at the request Of Mr.. Patterson,
the headmaster. who later became
United States Senator from New
Hampshire. OF her many pupils only
one, Andrew D. Lyon, recalls the
pretty schoolmistress who afterwards
became a distinguished poetess.
The account of Miss Proctor's death
and career as it appeared in spec
ial dispatch TO the Boston Herald was
as follows:
Edna Dean Proctor. poet Of gen.
Grafton ago, whose circle of friends
included Henry Ward Beeeher and
John Greenleaf Whittier, died Tues
day in her apartments at the Kendall
Hotel She was in her 95th year and
had never RECLAIMED her strength after
breaking her ankle last winter in
Atlantic City.
Funeral services we're held on
Thursday at . o'clock at the home of
her niece, Mrs. George ii. Fits, 1886
Union avenue. FramiDgham. Burial
was in Edgell Grove cemetery in that
town
II Surviving Miss Proctor. besides
/ Mrs. Fits, are two nephews, David
/ G. Proctor. song writer for Weber &
4 Fields, New York, and Prescott Coo
/ lidge Of Berkeley. Cal; and two other
! nieces, Mrs. Grace w. Van Praag of
birmingham. and Mrs. Julia White
Of Peoria. III.
Friend of Whittier
Often described as "the truest type
of a refined womanly women" Edna
I Dean Proctor was always the author
4 Of verse distinguished for its earnest
i ness and enthusiasm. Writing at in
+ frequent intervals. only when she was
+ deeply moved. nevertheless she pro-
gressively followed the train of events
from the Civil war through the recent
/ European struggle.
Il
/ lished in 1867. and before that she
i had already written verse which at
! tracted the attention of Whittier; yet
i in 1918 she had retold in stirring
poetry an incident of the retreat to-
ward the Marine, and continued to
+ produce energetic lines almost to the
end of her life.
The grown people of today. who
# III -
/ Proctor's time, remember especially
her patriotic songs and her poems
which appear in their school books.
Invariably championing the cause Of
freedom and democracy, she wrote
with particular zest of the Indians, of
patriotism. Of a new Russia and of
1.-THE Glory of Toll" as she entitled
her latest book of poems published
only recently.
Her parents. John and Lucinda
Gould Proctor, lived in house which
is still standing on the point Of land
at Manchester. Mass. They moved to
Henniker, ~ H., however. and there
Edna Dean Proctor was born, Sept.
IS. 1929, on hill overlooking the
Contoocook river. Although after the
years of her youth her life took her
sidered that state her own. In 1899
she wrote on the occasion of its first
old home week. 1.-THE Hills are Home"
which begins:
Forget New Hampshire? BY her cliffs,
Her meads, her brooks afoam,
With love and pride where er we bide,
The Hills, the Hills are Homel
After studying at Concord, n. H, d,
! and at South Hadley, Miss Proctor
, taught drawing and music at Wood
stock, and then became governess in
the family of Henry C. Bowen, at
; Brooklyn. Subsequently she travel
led widely in Europe and was one of
the first American women to make
an extensive trip in Russia. As re
suit Of her study of the people. she
wrote her Russian Journey" which
. prophesied the vast transformation Of
: that country. In later years she made
her home in birmingham. but spent
much time in Atlantic City and Wash
ington.
The Beecher Controversy
While in Brooklyn she became ac-
auainted with Henry Ward Beeeher
She published volume of the most
striking excerpts from his sermons
under the title Life Thoughts" and
because another similar book by an
other author soon appeared. apparent
ly with Beecher's approval. she
severely rebuked the pastor. His
explanation proving satisfactory TO
her. she forgave him and at his re-
quest wrote him letter to that effect.
As an indirect result Of her action,
her name was brought into the Zee
cher Triton case by Francis ID. Moul-
ton. Subsequently she sued Moulton
for libel for 100000 Winning COM
plete vindication, she settled with the
defendant for the amount merely
which the litigation cost her.
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