This is a transcription of the Emma Elizabeth Brown 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 55.
Emma Elizabeth Brown
“B. E. E.” is a familiar signature, especially to people of literary inclination. These letters are the reversed initials of one of the most notable daughters of the Granite state—Emma Elizabeth Brown, a native of Concord, and a daughter of John F. Brown, from whom she inherited her literary tendencies, as well as her love for painting and for nature. Her mother was a woman also gifted in many ways, and from both parents she is endowed with talents that have been faithfully cultivated and modestly displayed. She began writing for the press while a school-girl, in her native city, and early in life gained recognition through her poem, “The Legend of Chocorua,” published in the Concord Monitor. From that time to the present she has constantly contributed to leading papers and magazines, besides writing many books of a religious, biographical, and poetical nature, her biography of the late James Russell Lowell being one of her latest efforts. Miss Brown went to Boston to reside about the year 1875, and not long after became art critic for the Boston Advertiser. She studied painting with Samuel L. Gerry, and for a time had charge of the art department at the Maplewood Institute, Pittsfield, Mass., and at St. Catherine’s Hall, Augusta, Me. Her “Child Toilers of Boston,” “A Hundred Years Ago, “From Night to Light,” and her Azorean stories have been widely read. She now resides with her sister, Mrs. Treadwell, in a charming old house at Newton Highlands, Mass., surrounded by her books, her own beautiful water-colors, and the dear ones she loves so well. She is a woman of broad culture, having read much and traveled extensively. She belongs to the New England Woman’s club, the Castillian, and Unity Art club. She possesses a slender, graceful figure, gentle and unassuming manners, and is a woman to know and honor for her many lovable qualities.