Marguerite Merington

Marguerite Merington was born in Stoke Newington,[2] England, in 1857,[3] 1860,[2] or ca. 1861.[1]

At an early age, she came with her parents to Buffalo, New York where was educated at a convent. Even as a girl, she displayed dramatic talent, and often wrote and acted little parlor plays.[4]

For several years, she was instructor in Greek and Latin in the Normal College in New York. After resigning from this position, Merington pursued the career of a dramatic author. About 1889, E. H. Sothern proposed that Merington should write him a play, the leading character of which should be a captivating Irish gentleman. With a few suggestions from him, the play, Captain Lettarblair was written. Before it was performed, Joseph Jefferson, saw the manuscript and praised it highly. The play had a trial run at an authors' matinee in New York City, and was first presented August 16, 1892, at the Lyceum Theatre. Captain Lettarblair, produced by Daniel Frohman,[2] brought in large audiences, was financially successful, and held a place in Sothern's repertoire.

Merington wrote other dramas, including Good-Bye, A Lover's Knot, and the libretto of a comic opera, Daphne, or the Pipes of Arcadia. Set to music by Arthur Bird, of London, it gained the prize of US$500 from the New York Conservatory of Music.[4] After having served as the private secretary of Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Merington became the editor of The Custer Story: The Life and Intimate Letters of General George A. Custer and His Wife Elizabeth.[5]

Merington died on May 20, 1951, in her Manhattan home.[6] Of her life she said: "There is absolutely nothing about me to be told, and that I never tell."[4]

• Works by or about Marguerite Merington at Internet Archive