This is a transcription of the Kate Sanborn biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 25.
Kate Sanborn
IF it be true that “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine,” the Granite state is to be credited with much tonic, distributed through-out the land in the writings of cheerful, helpful, practical Kate Sanborn, which are alive with her sparkling individuality. Miss Sanborn is a descendant of the Revolutionary hero, Capt. Ebenezer Webster, who aided strongly in the adoption of the constitution, and claims Daniel Webster as her great uncle, her mother, Mary Ann Webster, being the favorite niece of the great statesman. Her father was the late honored Prof. Edwin David Sanborn, of Dartmouth College, and Edwin W. Sanborn of New York city. well known in legal and literary circles, is her brother. She has also a sister, Mrs. Paul Babcock of New York. Kate Sanborn’s home was her school-room. At the age of nineteen she was a teacher in the Mary institute, connected with Washington university, at St. Louis. Mo. Later, she taught a day school in Hanover. Subsequently she was for two years teacher of elocution in Packer institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., and for a year in the home of the late Mrs. Anna Lynch Botta, where she met many of the most distinguished personages of the day. After this she filled the chair of professor of literature at Smith College for a term of five years. During all this time she issued books and calendars, delivered lectures, and arranged classes in literature, besides writing for leading papers in large cities. Kate Sanborn is a teacher, reviewer, compiler, essayist, lecturer, author, housekeeper, and farmer. She resides at Metcalf, Mass., surrounded by the dumb creatures she loves so well. She is thoroughly domestic in her tastes, and a visit to her adopted farm is a treat, indeed. Among her best books may be mentioned, “Wit of Women,” “Adopting an Abandoned Farm,” ” Round Table Series of Literature,” “A Truthful Woman in Southern California,” “Abandoning an Adopted Farm,” and her ” Hen Book by a Hen Woman.”