Hemenway, Abby (1828–1890)

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Hemenway, Abby (1828–1890)

American historian. Born Abby Maria Hemenway, Oct 7, 1828, in Ludlow, Vermont; died Feb 24, 1890, in Chicago, Illinois; dau. of Daniel Sheffield Hemenway (farmer) and Abigail (Barton) Hemenway.

Taught school in Michigan (mid-1850s), wrote sentimental poetry, and published 1st work, Poets and Poetry of Vermont (1858); began anthologizing history of VT with 6 issues of Vermont Quarterly Gazetteer (1860–63) until work had to be suspended for lack of financial support; published poetry anthology Songs of the War (1863) and 3 volumes of religious verse (1865–73) after converting to Roman Catholic faith (1864); republished fragments from gazetteer with additional materials as 1st volume of The Vermont Historical Gazetteer (1867), which was followed by subsequent volumes, the 5th of which was partially destroyed in fire (1886) and completed after her death by sister Carrie E. H. Page (1891). Her over 6,000 pages of work have been relied upon heavily by subsequent historians of VT.