Lifespan: 1831-1910
Nationality: American
Genres: realism
Types of Work: Novels, novellas, short stories, poems, essays
Contemporaries: Louisa May Alcott
Bio:
Rebecca Harding was born on 24 June 1831 at the David Bradford House in Washington, Pennsylvania to Richard and Rachel Wilson. She was the eldest of five children. The family settled in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1836, when Wheeling was still a developing as a factory town in iron and steel mills. This environment would later shape the themes and settings of her novels.
Rebecca's early education was undertaken by her mother. At fourteen, she was sent to attend the Washington Female Seminary, where she graduated valedictorian in 1848.
After her graduation, she returned to the family home in Wheeling and joined the local newspaper, writing reviews, stories, poems, and editorials. She also served as editor for a time.
Rebecca spent much of her early adulthood living a rather isolated life. After the publication of Life in the Iron Mills in 1861-- which is regarded by many as the beginning of realism in American literature-- she began to receive the attention of the literary world. Such well-known authors as Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson lauded her tale and the new style of writing.
Rebecca met her husband, L. Clarke Davis in Philadelphia while on a trip to meet her publisher. The two had been corresponding ever since Clarke had contacted her as an admirer of her work. One week after meeting in person, the pair became engaged, and they were married on 5 March 1863. The couple had three children, the eldest of whom, Richard Harding Davis, also became a writer and journalist.
Within a decade of her marriage, Rebecca's popularity began to fade. She died on 29 September 1910.
Rebecca is credit with over 500 published works, but was almost entirely forgotten by the time of her death.
A more detailed biography can be found on Wikipedia.
Novels:
Margret Howth (1861)
Waiting for the Verdict (1867)
Dallas Galbraith (1868)
Kitty's Choice or Berrytown and Other Stories (1873)
John Andross (1874)
A Law unto Herself (1878)
Natasqua (1886)
Kent Hampden (1892)
Silhouettes of American Life (1892)
Doctor Warrick's Daughters (1896)
Frances Waldeaux (1897)
Bits of Gossip (1904)