Estelle (Mendell) AMORY

MENDELL, AMORY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/28/2013 at 11:56:42

Estelle Mendell Amory

AMORY, Mrs. Estelle Mendell, educator, and author, born in Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, N. Y., 3d June, 1845, passed her childhood on a farm. In 1852 her family moved to Adams, where her father, S. J. Mendell, engaged in business. The Mendell home was a home of refinement and culture, where were entertained many prominent persons, intercourse with whom did much to inspire the young girl with a desire to make a mark in literature. Her father served in the army throughout the war, rising to the rank of colonel by brevet. Estelle had developed meanwhile into a studious young woman, and had taught her first school. She studied in the Hungerford Collegiate Institute in her home town, and in Falley Seminary, Fulton, N. Y. In 1866 the family moved to Franklin county, Iowa. In 1867 she returned to the East and re-entered Falley Seminary, from which institution she was graduated with honors in 1868. Then followed seven years of earnest work as a teacher. In 1875 she became the wife of J. H. Amory, of Binghamton, N. Y., and went to Elgin, Ill., to live. During all those years Mrs. Amory had written much but published little. Ready acceptance of offered work now encouraged her, and soon she became a regular contributor to standard periodicals. Her well-known "Aunt Martha Letters," in the Elmira "Telegram," and the more famous "Aunt Chatty" series in the Minneapolis "Housekeeper," made her name a household word. Among the score of journals that have given her articles to the public are the "Ladies' Home Journal," "Mail and Express," Cincinnati "Enquirer," "Union Signal," " Babyhood," and "Golden Days." Mrs. Amory's family consists of a son and a daughter, and her home is now in Belmond, Iowa.

American Women, Fifteen Hundred Biographies, Vol. 1, 1897.