Ella Farman

Eliza Anna Farman Pratt (1837–1907) (pen names, Ella Farman and Dorothea Alice Shepherd) was an American writer of children's literature, best known for editing Wide Awake magazine for 16 years, starting in 1875.

Ella Farman Pratt
Born(1837-11-01)November 1, 1837
Augusta, New York
DiedMay 22, 1907(1907-05-22) (aged 69)
Warner, New Hampshire
Pen name
  • Ella Farman
  • D. A. Shepherd
Occupation
  • Writer
  • editor
GenresChildren's book and magazine
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1877)​
Children1

Early life

Farman was born November 1, 1837[1] in Augusta, New York,[2] the daughter of Rev. Tural Tufts Farman and Hanna Burleson Farman.[1] She was educated at a girls’ school in New York,[2] where she met Emma L. Shaw, who became a close friend. For a time Farman and Shaw worked as teachers, before they decided to move to Michigan and try to earn their living by farming.[3]

Literary career

In about 1870 Eliza Farman began writing in earnest, submitting work under the name of Ella Farman.[1] In 1875 she used the name of D. A. Shepherd when she sold a story entitled Two Girls that Tried Farming to The Atlantic Monthly.[4] When the story was expanded, and published as a book, the pen name of D. A. Shepherd was used once more.

Farman wrote children's stories, and for the first few years she received editing help from her friend Emma Shaw.[3] Several children's books were published by D. Lothrop Company. When publisher Daniel Lothrop decided to publish a children's magazine entitled Wide Awake he chose Farman as editor.[5] She edited Wide Awake from 1875 until 1891, with the assistance of co-editor Charles Stuart Pratt.[6] Farman and Pratt wed in 1877.[7]

Farman and Pratt also worked on other D. Lothrop Company children's magazines. They edited Babyland from 1877 to 1892[8] and then from 1894 to 1897.[9] They also edited Little Men and Women for an unknown period of time.[1]

From 1897 until shortly before her 1907 death Farman and Charles Stuart Pratt edited Little Folks,[10] a children's magazine published by S. E. Cassino Company, in Salem, Massachusetts.[11] Pratt continued on as editor until 1909.[12] Until at least 1912 the Little Folks Contents page stated “Edited from foundation to May, 1909, by Charles S. and Ella Farman Pratt.” [13]

During her work as editor Farman published approximately 20 books, most of them for children.[2]

Personal life

Eliza Anna Farman wed Charles Stuart Pratt on November 11, 1877,[7] For most of their married life the couple lived in Warner, New Hampshire.[2] Farman Pratt had a son, Ralph Farman Pratt, born July 7, 1878. He became a landscape painter.[14]

Farman Pratt was in poor health for several years, before dying at her home from myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle) and neurasthenia (fatigue, anxiety) on May 22, 1907. She was buried in South Weymouth, Massachusetts.[2]

Selected works
  • Anna Maylie (1873)
  • A Little Woman : A Story for Other Little Women (1873)
  • Anna Maylie : A Story of Work. (1873)
  • A Girl's Money (1874)
  • A White Hand (1875)
  • Mrs. Hurd's Niece : Six Months of a Girl's Life (1876)
  • The Doll Doctor, and Other Stories, (1877)
  • Sugar Plums (1877)
  • Good-for-Nothing Polly (1877)
  • Little Miss Mischief and Her Happy Thoughts (1878)
  • How Two Girls Tried Farming (as Dorothea Alice Shepherd) (1879)
  • The Home Primer (1882)
  • Nursery Primer (1882)
  • Rosabell's Adventure (1883)
  • Christmas Snowflakes (1883)
  • Yule Tide (1884)
  • Polly Himself (1886)
  • The Cooking Club of Tu-Whit Hollow (1886)
  • All the World Over : Interesting Stories of Travel, Thrilling Adventure and Home Life (1892)
  • Mrs. White's Party : and Other Stories (1894)
  • Happy Children (1896)
  • A Dozen Darlings and Their Doings (1898)
  • The Play Lady : a Story for Other Girls (1900)
  • The Little Cave-Dwellers (1901)
  • "Chicken Little" : Picture Guessing Story for Little Children (1903)
  • The Little Owls at Red Gates (1903)
  • Dear Little Sheila : a Picture Guessing Story for Children (1905)
  • Grandma Crosby's Household. a Story for Girls (1907)

References
  1. Elbert Eli Farman, LL.D., Foreman-Farman-Forman Genealogy, pages 74, 75, Tobias A. Wright, 1911
  2. Ella Farman Pratt (death notice), Kearsarge Independent and Times (Warner, N.H.), May 24, 1907
  3. Lowe, Berenice Bryant, Tales of Battle Creek, page 262-264, The Albert L. and Louise B. Miler Foundation, Inc. 1976
  4. D. A. Shepherd, Two Girls that Tried Farming, The Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1875, pages 202 - 215
  5. "The Story of Wide Awake, Wide Awake page 196, August, 1893
  6. Kelly, R. Gordon, Wide Awake, in Children's Periodicals of the United States, page 460, Greenwood Press, 1984
  7. John William Leonard, Who's Who in America, Volume 8, page 1893, A. N. Marquis, 1914
  8. Kelly, R. Gordon, Babyland, in Children's Periodicals of the United States, page 26, Greenwood Press, 1984
  9. Larry Sullivan, 19th Century Authors of Warner New Hampshire, page 60, Warner Historical Society & Pillsbury Free Library, 2011
  10. Obituary, New York Tribune, May 24, 1907, page 8
  11. Kelly, R. Gordon, Little Folks: An Illustrated Magazine, in Children's Periodicals of the United States, page 285, Greenwood Press, 1984
  12. Charles Stuart Pratt (death notice), Kearsarge Independent and Times, April 8, 1921
  13. Contents page, Little Folks, June, 1912, no page number shown
  14. Marquis, Albert Nelson (editor), Who's Who in New England, Volume 2, page 872, A. N. Marquis & Company, 1916
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