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Ellen <I>Palmer</I> Allerton

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Ellen Palmer Allerton

Birth
Centerville, Allegany County, New York, USA
Death
31 Aug 1893 (aged 57)
Hamlin, Brown County, Kansas, USA
Burial
Hamlin, Brown County, Kansas, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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From Woman of the Century, biographical sketches of leading American women, by Charles Wells Moulton, 1893:
Ellen Palmer Allerton
ALLERTON, Mrs. Ellen Palmer, poet, born in Centerville, N. Y., 17th October, 1835. Her ancestors were of Knickerbocker blood. She received a district-school education and afterwards spent a few terms in academies, but never graduated. Her marriage to Alpheus B. Allerton, took place in 1862, soon after her removal to Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Allerton were both invalids in Wisconsin, but in 1879, traveled to Kansas in a wagon, cooking their own meals and getting health and happiness out of the journey. They selected for a home an unimproved farm, a-quarter section, on very high land in Brown county, in sight of Padonia, Hamlin, Falls City and Hiawatha. They now have a handsome home and every comfort that prosperity brings in its train. Mrs. Allerton composed and recited verses before she could write, but offered little to the press until she was past thirty years of age. Her first poems were published in "The Jefferson County Union," ex-Governor Hoard's paper. Later she contributed to Milwaukee and Chicago papers, and was at one time book-reviewer for the Milwaukee "Sentinel." She has published one volume, "Poems of the Prairies." (New York, 1886). She is considered one of the leading authors of Kansas. As a woman and as a writer she is quiet and sensible. At her home in Padonia she has a wide circle of loving friends, and throughout the West the hearts that hold her dear are legion.
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The following is from the book, "Kansas Women in Literature", Nettie Garmer Barker, S. I. Messeraull & Son, Kansas City, Kansas, 1915.
     Ellen Palmer Allerton, the sweet and gentle poetess, beloved of Kansas, lived at Padonia, in Brown County, when she wrote her famous poem, "Wall of Corn.''
     She was past her prime when she came to Kansas from the Wisconsin home, the subject of many of her noble gems. As she grew older, she grew stronger in poetic strength.
     Three volumes of poems have been published, "Walls of Corn and Other Poems,'' "Annabel and Other Poems,'' and "Poems of the Prairie.'' Her "Walls of Corn,'' written in 1884, famous from the first, was used as railroad immigration advertising, was translated in several languages and distributed all over Europe. This and her "Trail of Forty-nine'' are her best, although the classic beauty of "Beautiful Things'' is unsurpassed by any other American writer.

"Beautiful twilight, at set of sun,
Beautiful goal, with race well run,
Beautiful rest, with work well done.''

is a fitting close to the beautiful, useful life of the author.
     Mrs. Allerton was born in Centerville. New York, in 1835 and began writing verse at the age of seventeen. Much as she has written, yet writing was only a pastime. She never let it interfere with her housework. Thoroughly practical, she did all her own work, just because she loved to do it. Her flowers of which she had many, in doors and out, resulted in many noble, inspiring lines. In 1862, she was married to A. B. Allerton of Wisconsin, coming to Kansas in 1865. She was best appreciated for her social qualities and her interest in charity--that broader charity that praises the beauty and ignores the blemishes. Her last poem, "When Days Grow Dark'' is a beautiful pen picture of her sweetness and resignation in her growing blindness and her love and trust in him who had been her companion down the years.

"You take the book and pour into my ear
In accent sweet, the words I cannot see;
I listen charmed, forget my haunting fear,
And think with you as with your eyes I see.
In the world's thought, so your dear voice be left,
I still have part, I am not all bereft.

And if this darkness deepens, when for me
The new moon bends no more her silver rim,
When stars go out, and over land and sea
Black midnight falls, where now is twilight dim,
O, then may I be patient, sweet and mild,
While your hands lead me like a little child!''

     She died in 1893, at Padonia, and was buried in a bed of her favorite white flowers, donated by loving friends. In the little graveyard at Hamlin, one reads "Beautiful Things'' on a modest stone at the head of her little bed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that subtracting (57y 10m 15d) from (Aug. 31, 1893) equals a birthdate of "Oct. 16, 1835."
From Woman of the Century, biographical sketches of leading American women, by Charles Wells Moulton, 1893:
Ellen Palmer Allerton
ALLERTON, Mrs. Ellen Palmer, poet, born in Centerville, N. Y., 17th October, 1835. Her ancestors were of Knickerbocker blood. She received a district-school education and afterwards spent a few terms in academies, but never graduated. Her marriage to Alpheus B. Allerton, took place in 1862, soon after her removal to Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Allerton were both invalids in Wisconsin, but in 1879, traveled to Kansas in a wagon, cooking their own meals and getting health and happiness out of the journey. They selected for a home an unimproved farm, a-quarter section, on very high land in Brown county, in sight of Padonia, Hamlin, Falls City and Hiawatha. They now have a handsome home and every comfort that prosperity brings in its train. Mrs. Allerton composed and recited verses before she could write, but offered little to the press until she was past thirty years of age. Her first poems were published in "The Jefferson County Union," ex-Governor Hoard's paper. Later she contributed to Milwaukee and Chicago papers, and was at one time book-reviewer for the Milwaukee "Sentinel." She has published one volume, "Poems of the Prairies." (New York, 1886). She is considered one of the leading authors of Kansas. As a woman and as a writer she is quiet and sensible. At her home in Padonia she has a wide circle of loving friends, and throughout the West the hearts that hold her dear are legion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is from the book, "Kansas Women in Literature", Nettie Garmer Barker, S. I. Messeraull & Son, Kansas City, Kansas, 1915.
     Ellen Palmer Allerton, the sweet and gentle poetess, beloved of Kansas, lived at Padonia, in Brown County, when she wrote her famous poem, "Wall of Corn.''
     She was past her prime when she came to Kansas from the Wisconsin home, the subject of many of her noble gems. As she grew older, she grew stronger in poetic strength.
     Three volumes of poems have been published, "Walls of Corn and Other Poems,'' "Annabel and Other Poems,'' and "Poems of the Prairie.'' Her "Walls of Corn,'' written in 1884, famous from the first, was used as railroad immigration advertising, was translated in several languages and distributed all over Europe. This and her "Trail of Forty-nine'' are her best, although the classic beauty of "Beautiful Things'' is unsurpassed by any other American writer.

"Beautiful twilight, at set of sun,
Beautiful goal, with race well run,
Beautiful rest, with work well done.''

is a fitting close to the beautiful, useful life of the author.
     Mrs. Allerton was born in Centerville. New York, in 1835 and began writing verse at the age of seventeen. Much as she has written, yet writing was only a pastime. She never let it interfere with her housework. Thoroughly practical, she did all her own work, just because she loved to do it. Her flowers of which she had many, in doors and out, resulted in many noble, inspiring lines. In 1862, she was married to A. B. Allerton of Wisconsin, coming to Kansas in 1865. She was best appreciated for her social qualities and her interest in charity--that broader charity that praises the beauty and ignores the blemishes. Her last poem, "When Days Grow Dark'' is a beautiful pen picture of her sweetness and resignation in her growing blindness and her love and trust in him who had been her companion down the years.

"You take the book and pour into my ear
In accent sweet, the words I cannot see;
I listen charmed, forget my haunting fear,
And think with you as with your eyes I see.
In the world's thought, so your dear voice be left,
I still have part, I am not all bereft.

And if this darkness deepens, when for me
The new moon bends no more her silver rim,
When stars go out, and over land and sea
Black midnight falls, where now is twilight dim,
O, then may I be patient, sweet and mild,
While your hands lead me like a little child!''

     She died in 1893, at Padonia, and was buried in a bed of her favorite white flowers, donated by loving friends. In the little graveyard at Hamlin, one reads "Beautiful Things'' on a modest stone at the head of her little bed.
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Note that subtracting (57y 10m 15d) from (Aug. 31, 1893) equals a birthdate of "Oct. 16, 1835."

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Wife of A.B., 57y 10m 15d



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