Born: 23 September 1823, United States
Died: 20 April 1904
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Grace Greenwood, Sara Clarke
The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.
Mrs. Sarah Jane (Clarke) Lippincott, “Grace Greenwood”, Journalist and Serial Writer, 1823 – 1904 A.D.
Her pen name, “Greenwood,” fits her tastes and talents. As a child the fields and forests were her delight. In daring deeds she outdid the boys in the little village of Pompey, N.Y., where she was born. One of her delights was to ride young horses bareback.
At school in Rochester she cared nothing for and learned little about mathematics and science, but she could write verses and sketches with so much skill that publishers sought her productions before she was fourteen years old. Her writings were as fresh and racy as a mountain brook. In later years as well, her productions were full of joyous health. No one could be like her, nor could she be like anyone else. She was simply and intensely herself. The following are some of her writings:
Greenwood Leaves, History of my Pets, Poems, Recollections of My Childhood, Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe, Forest Tragedy and Other Tales, Stories of Many Lands, History for Children, and Victoria, Queen of England. The latter brought out simultaneously in London and New York. She wrote for many periodicals either as an editor or contributor and delivered several notable lectures and addresses.
In 1853 Miss Clarke married Leander K. Lippincott of Philadelphia. A single verse from one of her poems gives a glimpse of both as a horsewoman and poetess.
“As I spring to his back, as I seize the string reign,
The strength to my spirit returneth again,
The bonds are all broken that fettered my mind,
And my cares borne away on the wings of the wind;
My pride lifts its head, for a season bowed down,
And the queen in my nature now puts on her crown.”
During the war she rendered excellent service to the cause of the sick soldiers by lecturing for the fairs of the Sanitary Commission. She also read and lectured to the soldiers in camp, and President Lincoln called her “Grace Greenwood, the patriot.”
The following is excerpted from A Woman of the Century, edited by Frances E. Willard and Mary A Livermore, published in 1893 by Charles Wells Moulton.
LIPPINCOTT, Mrs. Sara Jane, author, widely known by her pen-mime, “Grace Greenwood,” born in Fompey, Onondaga county, N Y., 23rd September, 1823. She is a daughter of Dr. Thaddeus Clarke and w.is reared in Rochester, N. Y. In 1842 she went with her father to New Brighton, Pa. She received a good education in public and private schools. In 1853 she became the wife of Leander K. Lippincott, of Philadelphia, Pa. She began to write verses in childhood under her own name. In 1844 she published some prose articles in the New York “Mirror,” using for the first time her now famous pen-name, “Grace Greenwood.” She had a liking for journalism, which she satisfied by editing the “Little Pilgrim,” a Philadelphia juvenile monthly, for several years She contributed for years to “Hearth and Home,” the “Atlantic Monthly,” “Harper’s Magazine,” the New York “Independent” New York “Times” and “Tribune” and California journals, and the English “Household Words” and “All the Year Round.” She was one of the first women newspaper correspondents in the United States, and her Washington correspondence inaugurated a new feature of journalism. Her published works include “Greenwood Leaves” (1850); “History of My Pets” (1850); “Poems” (1851); “Recollections of My Childhood” (1851); “Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe” (1854); “Merrie England” (1855); “Forest Tragedy, and Other Tales” (1856); “Stories and Legends of Travel” (1858); “History for Children” (1858); “Stories from Famous Ballads” (1860); “Stories of Many Lands” (1867); “Stories and Sights in France and Italy” (1868); “Records of Five Years” (1868); “New Life in New Lands” (1873) and “Victoria, Queen of England” (1883). The last-named work was brought out in New York and London simultaneously. She has spent much time abroad. During the Civil War she read and lectured to the soldiers in the camps and hospitals, and President Lincoln called her “Grace Greenwood, the Patriot.” She is interested in all questions of the day that relate to the progress of women. She has one daughter. Her home is in Washington, D. C., but she spends much time in New York City.