Introduction

Biography

Emily was the daugh­ter of Al­len Cle­ments and Cath­er­ine Still­man; wife of Charles Pear­son (mar­ried 1846); and a des­cend­ant of Ab­ra­ham Pier­son, the first pre­si­dent of Yale.

In 1837, she en­rolled at Mount Ho­ly­oke Col­lege, in the col­lege’s first sem­in­ary class, but on­ly stayed one year.

By Jan­ua­ry 1842, she was a gov­ern­ess at a plan­ta­tion near War­saw, Vir­gin­ia, called Mount A­iry.

Works

Pearson was a pro­lif­ic writ­er and ar­dent abo­li­tion­ist. Her works in­clude:

• Jamie Park­er, the Fu­gi­tive (Hart­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut: Brock­ett & Full­er, 1841)

• Uncle Franck’s House­hold, or Scenes in the Old Do­min­ion, 1852
• Ruth’s Sac­ri­fice, or, Life on the Rap­pa­han­nock (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Charles H. Pear­son, 1864)
• The Poor White, or The Re­bel Con­script (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Graves & Young, 1864
• Prince Paul: The Freed­man Sol­dier, 1867
• Gutenberg, or, the World’s Be­ne­fac­tor, 1870
• Gutenberg, and the Art of Print­ing, 1871
• From Cot­tage to Cas­tle, 1887
• Madonna Hall: The Sto­ry of Our Coun­try’s Per­il (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: James H. Earle, 1890)