'Elsie Magoon' excerpt   Save
Ohio History Connection Archives/Library
Description: Frances Dana Gage published "Elsie Magoon, or The Old Still-House in the Hollow" in 1872. The novel advocates temperance and tells the fictional story of a woman on the Ohio frontier whose life is ruined by her husband's alcoholism. Temperance advocates had a range of opinions on alcohol; some supported limited use of alcohol, while others sought to completely prohibit the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The book is 324 pages long and measures 4.5" x 7" (11.43 x 17.78 cm). Included here are 141 pages. Suffragist, abolitionist, and temperance advocate Gage (1808-1884) was born in Marietta, Ohio. She married James L. Gage, a lawyer from McConnelsville, Ohio in 1829. By 1842, the Gages had eight children. Despite the demands of her growing family, Gage was active in many causes. In 1851 she presided over the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, where Sojourner Truth delivered her "Ain't I a Woman" speech. During the Civil War, Gage went to the South to work for the U. S. Sanitary Commission, a forerunner to the Red Cross. After a stroke in 1867, Gage focused on writing, often under the pen name Aunt Fanny. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om2979_3629052_001
Subjects: Civil Liberties; Ohio Women; Literary Ohio; Temperance; Gage, Frances Dana, 1808-1884
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)