This is a transcription of the Edna Dean Proctor 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 21.
Edna Dean Proctor
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR, eminent among American poets, is a native of Henniker. Her name is known throughout the land, the result of her pen alone, for she avoids publicity, preferring to be known by her works. The Proctor family removed from Manchester, Mass., to that picturesque town near the close of the last century, and settled upon a high hill overlooking “Contoocook’s bright and brimming river.” Here was the birthplace of this gifted daughter, whose mother, Lucinda Gould, was a descendant of the Hiltons and Prescotts of Portsmouth and Hampton. Early in life she developed marked poetic talent, and when the Civil War came, arousing her patriotism to a white heat, her national poems, such as “The Stars and Stripes,” “Compromise,” “Who’s Ready?” and others, stirred the hearts of the boys who wore the blue to deeds of valor in the great struggle for country and freedom. She has enjoyed the friendship of Whittier, Longfellow, and other famous poets. Of her poem “New Hampshire” Whittier said it was one of the noblest produced in this country. Longfellow showed his appreciation of her descriptive poems by including them in his ‘`Poems of Places,” and greatly praised her “Russian Journey,” which won high commendation in two continents. Two of her later poems, ” Columbia’s Banner,” and “Columbia’s Emblem,” are exceedingly popular. The latter is a ringing, spirited appeal for maize as our national floral emblem, and has received the endorsement of multitudes throughout the country. Her “Song of the Ancient People ” is universally conceded to be the grandest poem ever written of the aboriginal Americans. The late Mary Hemenway was so inspired with its depth, pathos, and historical significance that she gave $2,500 to have it illustrated. Miss Proctor resides in Framingham, Mass., but spends much time in Boston and Washington in winter. She has traveled widely, and never fails to visit her native town and state when opportunity offers.