Sophia Louise Little

Sophia Louise Robbins was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on August 22, 1799.[2] She was the second daughter of Asher Robbins, a United States Senator from Rhode Island.[2] She was educated in her native town, and in 1834 married William Little, Jr., of Boston, who assisted her by his criticism in the development of her poetic talent.[2] Her first poem of any length, a description of a New England Thanksgiving, was printed in 1838 in The Token.[2]

Sophia Little took an active interest in the anti-slavery movement, and was a life-long friend of William Lloyd Garrison, being present at the Boston meeting, at which he was mobbed.[2] She was also president of the Prisoner's Aid Association of Rhode Island from its formation.[2] With the aid of friends, she opened a free reading room for working people in Newport, which proved to be the germ of a free public library.[2] She also established a Holly-tree coffee-house, and was still active in many charitable enterprises in 1887.[2]

Little died in 1893.[3] Her son, Robbins Little, became a lawyer and librarian.[4]

Little, besides contributing frequently to various periodicals, published the following poems:

• "The Last Days of Jesus " (Boston, 1839);
• "The Annunciation and Birth of Jesus, and the Resurrection" (1843);
• "Pentecost" (1873).

In 1877 a complete edition of her religious poems was published at Newport, bearing the title, Last Days of Jesus, and Other Poems.[5]

• Ockerbloom, John Mark, ed. "Little, Sophia L. (Sophia Louisa), 1799-". The Online Books Page. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
• Van Broekhoven, Deborah Bingham (2000). "Little, Sophia Louisa Robbins (1799-1893), writer and reformer". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved August 20, 2022.

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1888). "Little, Sophia Louise". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 3. New York: D. Appleton & Co. pp. 738–739.