Rebecca Sophia Clarke

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Frontispiece of Sophie May (1833-1906)
Frontispiece of Sophie May (1833-1906)

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906) was an American author of children's fiction. She wrote under the penname Sophie May and had 45 published works between 1860 and 1903.

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Rebecca Sophia Clarke was born in Norridgewock, Maine, to Asa and Sophia Clarke on February 22, 1833. She was tutured at home in the classical languages of Greek and Latin and attended school at the Female Academy of Norridgewock.[1] Along with her well rounded education, preparation for her role as a writer probably began with her diary, which she kept from ages nine to eleven, diligently recording the sermons, debates and lectures she attended.[2] At age 18, she moved to Evansville, Indiana, where she taught school. Her teaching career ended 10 years later due to a severe hearing loss and in 1861, she returned to her family home in Maine where she lived with her sister Sarah Clarke. [3]

[edit] Career

Clarke's nieces
Clarke's nieces

Clarke's work was published using the pseudonym, "Sophie May". She penned that name in 1861 and used it to sign her first story, which was published in the Memphis Appeal. When the story was finished, she signed her name, Sophie, and then said: "Well, I'll call it May, for I may write again and I may not". [4] Her most successful stories were of the Little Prudy characters which made their first appearance in short stories for the children's periodicals, The Little Pilgrim and the Congregationalist . [5] Clarke's nieces were the inspiration for her characters; Prudy, Susy, and Dotty Dimple. [6] The series was later published into books. [3] She also contributed to other children's magazines, including Merry's Museum. From 1861 until 1903, Clarke wrote forty-five books under the pseudonym "Sophie May": thirty-seven of these were series books and at least five of the others were also for children.

[edit] Later years

Rebecca Sophia Clarke, later years
Rebecca Sophia Clarke, later years

Clarke gave the city of Norridgewock a building to be used as the town library. She traveled and spent her winters in Baltimore, Florida, as well as California.[1] She died in Norridgewock, at the age of 73, on August 16, 1906, and is buried at the Old Oak Cemetery.[6]

[edit] List of works

Little Prudy (series 1864-1868)

Little Prudy (1864), Sister Suzy (1864), Captain Horace (1864), Cousin Grace (1865), Fairy Book (1865), Dotty Dimple (1868)

Dotty Dimple (series 1868-1869)

Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's (1868), Dotty Dimple Out West (1868), Dotty Dimple at Home (1868), Dotty Dimple at Play (1869), Dotty Dimple at School (1869), Dotty Dimple's Flyaway (1869)

Little Prudy's Flyaway (series 1870-1873)

Little Folks Astray (1870), Prudy Keeping House (1870), Aunt Madge's Story (1871), Little Grandmother (1872), Little Grandfather (1873), Miss Thistledown (1873)

Flaxie Frizzle(series 1876-1884)

Flaxie Frizzle (1876), Doctor Papa (1877), Little Pitchers (1878), Twin Cousins (1880), Flaxie's Kittyleen (1883), Flaxie Growing Up (1884)

Little Prudy's Children (series 1894-1901)

Wee Lucy (1894), Jimmy Boy (1895), Kyzie Dunlee (1895), Wee Lucy's Secret (1899), Jimmy, Lucy, and All (1900), Lucy in Fairyland (1901)

Quinnebasset Girls (series 1871-1903)

Doctor's Daughter (1871), Our Helen (1874), Asbury Twins (1875), Quinebasset Girls (1877), Janet (1882), In Old Quinnebasset (1891), Joy Bells (1903)

Other known books

Drones' Honey (1887),
Pauline Wyman (1897)
The Champion's Diamonds (1897)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Sophie May's Biography. Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906). Retrieved on June 11, 2008.
  2. ^ Kensinger, Faye Riter (1987). Children of the Series and how They Grew. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, p. 48. ISBN 0879723769. 
  3. ^ a b Nineteenth-Century American Children & What They Read. 19th-Century Girls' Series. Retrieved on February 5, 2008.
  4. ^ Willard, Frances E.; Mary A. Livermore (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 178. ISBN 0879681837. 
  5. ^ Novel Guide. Rebecca Sophia Clarke. Retrieved on February 5, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Brandon University. The Edgar Rice Burroughs Library. Retrieved on June 9, 2008.
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