Margaret Deland

Deland, Margaret (Margaretta Wade Campbell) Born: February 23, 1857, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania Died: January 13, 1945, in Boston, Massachusetts Literary Vocations: Novelist, Short Story Writer, Poet, Memoirist Geographic Connection to Pennsylvania: Allegheny City & Manchester, Allegheny County

Keywords: Legion of Honor; National Institute of Arts and Letters; Old Chester Tales, The Old Garden; John Ward Preacher; World War I

Margaretta Wade Campbell grew up in a privileged household on the estate of Louis and Benjamin Bakewell Campbell in Manchester, on the Ohio River near Allegheny. She was educated in Pittsburgh and at Pelham Priory in New Rochelle, New York. Then, in a characteristically independent act, she moved alone in 1875 to New York City, where she studied art and design at Cooper Union. The following year she became an assistant instructor of drawing and design at the Normal College of the City of New York (now Hunter College) and remained there until her marriage on 12 May 1880, to Lorin Fuller Deland, the junior partner of the Boston printing house Deland and Son, whom she had met during a summer 1878 vacation in Vermont. Childless, the Delands created a fruitful union based upon mutuality and a shared moral vision. For four years early in their marriage they shocked some segments of the public by bringing some sixty unmarried mothers into their home, helping them to understand, to accept, and to overcome the censure of society.

Abstract: The controversial writer, Margaret Deland, was born in Allegheny City in 1857. After losing both of her parents as an infant, Deland found herself growing up in the arms of her mother’s sister. A novelist, short story writer, and a poet she was heavily involved with the community, taking on the task of temporarily supporting the growth of unwed mothers. Her literary contributions questioned the requirements for happiness and how it can be fulfilled.

Biography:

Daughter of Sample Campbell and Margaretta Wade, clothing merchants, Margaret Deland was born on February 23, 1857, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now the north side of Pittsburgh. Losing her mother upon childbirth and her father two weeks later, Deland’s upbringing was solely reliant on that of her mother’s sister, Lois Wade. She grew up in Manchester and at the ripe age of twelve she found a passionate love for writing. Married to Lorin F. Deland in 1880, the couple moved to Boston where they would find themselves situated for the better part of their life.

Concerned with social and cultural issues affecting women, Deland opened her home to some 60 unwed mothers and their infants during a four year span. During this time she began writing verses for a greeting-card firm and eventually saw a few of her poems published in Harper’s Magazine. A collection of these poems were compiled and in 1886 Deland’s first book, The Old Garden, was published. In the years following, Deland wrote prolifically, publishing novels, short stories, and poems. Most of her short stories would be set in “Old Chester,” a town based on the Manchester of her youth. As a novelist and short story writer she was known to write about controversial issues that questioned moral conventional responses. Her first novel, John Ward, Preacher, was a portrayal of the destructive conflict between a Calvinist minister and his Episcopalian wife, who could not accept the doctrine of eternal damnation. The book sparked controversy and led to surging sales.

Deland continued to write and published popular short stories such as Old Chester Tales, a collection of realistic stories based loosely on her childhood. She would go on to write for many years after, however, none of her workings would live up to the expectations of her originals. In 1926, Deland was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters and was granted the Legion of Honor by the French government for her relief efforts in France during World War I.

At the age of 87, Deland died on January 13, 1945, at the Hotel Sheraton in Boston, Massachusetts, from natural causes. Through some of her controversial writing, Deland brought into question the norms of society and made others realize the defining goal of happiness.

Works:

Novels

John Ward, Preacher. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1888. Dr. Lavendar’s People. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903. The Awakening of Helena Richie. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1906. The Iron Woman. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1911. Short Story Collections

Mr. Tommy Dove, and Other Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1893. Old Chester Tales. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. Around Old Chester. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1915. New Friends in Old Chester. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1924. Old Chester Days. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937. Memoirs

If This Be I, As I Supposed It Be. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1935. Golden Yesterdays. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941. Poetry

The Old Garden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1886. Sources:

“Deland, Margaret.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. 17 Nov. 2005. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9104219>. “Margaret Deland Writer, Dies at 87.” New York Times 14 Jan. 1945: 40. Reep, Diana. Margaret Deland. Boston: Twayne, 1985. Sapora, Carol. “Deland, Margaret.” American National Biography Online. Feb. 2000. 17 Nov. 2005. <http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-0445.html>. This biography was prepared by Ryan David, Fall 2005.