Elisabeth Carpenter Satterthwait

Elisabeth Carpenter Satterthwait
Born 1856
Harrison, New York
Occupation Author
Nationality American
Genres Historical Fiction

Elisabeth Carpenter Satterthwait (born 1856) authored A Son of the Carolinas (1898)[1] about the effects on the local people of the 1893 Sea Islands hurricane which devastated the South Carolina coastal lowlands in late August of that year.[2] The book is noted for its "well-told story," "novelty of theme and locality"[3] and its use of the native dialect of the Gullah islanders of African descent.[4]

Set on Cat Island southeast of Beaufort, South Carolina[5][6], Satterthwait's narrative gives a historical-fiction account of the storm in pseudo-autobiographical fashion, expressing Satterthwait's Post-Civil War Reconstruction Society of Friends (Quaker) philosophy. She modified her reproduction of the dialogue to support clarity in understanding by readers unfamiliar with the Gullah language.[7] The book been republished twice, in microform in 1970, and by Books for Libraries Press[8] in 1972.

Personal

Satterthwait was a daughter of Robert and Phebe Carpenter of Harrison, Westchester County, New York, where she married in 1884 to Charles E. Satterthwait of Aiken, South Carolina in a ceremony reported in The Friends' Intelligencer, a Quaker periodical news publication.[9]

Further Reading

Elisabeth Carpenter Satterthwait. 1898. A Son of the Carolinas, A story of the Hurricane upon The Sea Islands. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus. 273 pp. ISBN 0836990625 (ISBN 0-8369-9062-5).

References

  1. ^ Library of Congress: A son of the Carolinas : a story of the hurricane upon The Sea Islands, http://lccn.loc.gov/98000528, accessed 24 Dec 2011.
  2. ^ William and Fran Marscher: The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893, Mercer University Press, Macon, Ga., 2004, ISBN 0-86554-867-6.
  3. ^ Book Notes, A Monthly Literary Magazine and Review of New Books, Mrs. Henry Siegel, ed., Siegel-Cooper Co. Book Department, New York, New Series, Vol. II, No. 4, April 1899, p. 252; http://books.google.com/books?id=rtkRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252&dq=%22Elizabeth+C.+Satterthwait%22&source=bl&ots=hfJvXbtaNR&sig=LgAcuS7hGyj-jpZUulu0QZ8nim4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GeT4TrG4Kqbr0gH65YC7Ag&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Elizabeth%20C.%20Satterthwait%22&f=false.
  4. ^ Neal Dorst: Subject: J4) What fictional books, plays, poems, and movies have been written involving tropical cyclones?, http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/J4.html, Last Revised: May 11, 2010.
  5. ^ Katharine M. Jones: Port Royal Under Six Flags, The Story of the Sea Islands, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., Indianapolis & New York, 1960, Part XIV, "The Big Storm of 1893."
  6. ^ The Island Packet & The Beaufort Gazette: Ask & Answer: Feb. 2, 2010, http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/02/02/1122375/ask-answer-feb-2-2010.html, Published Tuesday, February 2, 2010.
  7. ^ Elisabeth Carpenter Satterthwait: A Son of the Carolinas, A story of the Hurricane upon The Sea Islands, Henry Altemus, Philadelphia, Pa., 1898. pp. 5-6 (Preface).
  8. ^ Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, N.Y., http://isbndb.com/d/publisher/books_for_libraries_press.html, accessed 24 Dec 2011.
  9. ^ The Friends' Intelligencer, John Comly, Publishing Agent, Philadelphia, Pa., 1883-84, Vol. XL, No. 52 (2nd Month 9, 1884), p. 826.