Pansy Author Page
Isabella Macdonald (1841–1930) was born in Rochester, New York, in a well-educated and religious family. The nickname "Pansy" was given to her from her father, because of picking pansies in her childhood. She was also called "Belle." She attended school at Seneca Collegiate Institute at Ovid, New York, and then at Young Ladies Institute, Auburn, New York. In 1866, she married Gustavus Rosenberg Alden, a Presbyterian minister. She was dedicated to communication of the Gospel through writing. She wrote Sunday-school lessons and magazine articles. She wrote hundreds of books and stories in her lifetime.Curiosmith features:
Ester Ried: Asleep and Awake.
The King's Daughter.
Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
Six Little Girls.
An Hour with Miss Streator.
The King's Daughter.
Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
Six Little Girls.
An Hour with Miss Streator.
Family:
Father – Isaac Macdonald (1800-1870), merchant, well educated, devoted Presbyterian.
Mother – Myra Spafford (1803-1885), illustrious ancestry. Her father was Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. and her mother, Hannah Bristol, was Spafford's first wife. She lived with Ross and Pansy in her old age.
Grandfather (maternal) – Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. (1778-1832), both intellectual and industrious, he was a writer, an inventor and a gazetteer.
Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. (1828-1880) – a half-brother to Pansy's mother, the son of Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. and his second wife Elizabeth Clark Hewitt. He wrote "It Is Well with My Soul" after he lost his four daughters at sea.
Sister - Marcia Macdonald Livingston. She was an author and is often called Mrs. C. M. Livingston. She married Rev. Charles Montgomery Livingston. She is the mother of Grace Livingston Hill.
Sister - Julia Macdonald – lived with Ross and Pansy in Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Palo Alto.
Sister – Mary A. Macdonald – Married George H. Heaton and secondly Calvin H. Williamson in 1874. She contributed stories. She lived with Ross and Pansy in California in her old age.
Husband - Gustavus Rosenberg Alden, (1832–1924), educated at Auburn Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian minister, ordained 1866. Nicknamed "Ross." He was married in 1856 to Hannah M. Bogart for 11 months (who died in 1856 probably from childbirth) with whom he had a daughter, Anna.
Son – Dr. Raymond Macdonald Alden (1873–1924) – Born at New Harford, New York, on March 30th. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was Professor of English in Leland Stanford Junior University (commonly called Stanford) during 1901-1911, 1914-1924 (1912-1914 he was at the University of Illinois). He married Barbara G. Hitt on May 24th 1904, in Alhambra, CA. His children were Donald, Elizabeth, John, Roland, and Raymond. He was a writer (penname Paranete) who wrote storybooks and stories for periodicals.
Daughter - Anna Alden – She was born in 1856, from Gustavus' first marriage. Ross and Pansy raised her at least until she was 23. Afterward, Anna lived with friend Theodosia Marie Foster in Oneida, NY.
Daughter - Frances B. Alden (born in 1892) – Adopted daughter born in Washington D.C.
Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (1865-1947) is a niece of Pansy. She is the daughter of Pansy's sister, Marcia MacDonald Livingston. Grace Livingston's first marriage was to Rev. Thomas Guthrie Hill. Her second marriage was to Flavius Josephus Lutz. She was a prolific writer who became very popular.
Theodosia Marie Foster (1838–1923) – Theodosia Marie Toll married James H. Foster (1833-1872). A friend and coauthor whose pen name was Faye Huntington. She taught at Oneida Seminary also.
Father – Isaac Macdonald (1800-1870), merchant, well educated, devoted Presbyterian.
Mother – Myra Spafford (1803-1885), illustrious ancestry. Her father was Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. and her mother, Hannah Bristol, was Spafford's first wife. She lived with Ross and Pansy in her old age.
Grandfather (maternal) – Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. (1778-1832), both intellectual and industrious, he was a writer, an inventor and a gazetteer.
Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. (1828-1880) – a half-brother to Pansy's mother, the son of Horatio Gates Spafford Sr. and his second wife Elizabeth Clark Hewitt. He wrote "It Is Well with My Soul" after he lost his four daughters at sea.
Sister - Marcia Macdonald Livingston. She was an author and is often called Mrs. C. M. Livingston. She married Rev. Charles Montgomery Livingston. She is the mother of Grace Livingston Hill.
Sister - Julia Macdonald – lived with Ross and Pansy in Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Palo Alto.
Sister – Mary A. Macdonald – Married George H. Heaton and secondly Calvin H. Williamson in 1874. She contributed stories. She lived with Ross and Pansy in California in her old age.
Husband - Gustavus Rosenberg Alden, (1832–1924), educated at Auburn Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian minister, ordained 1866. Nicknamed "Ross." He was married in 1856 to Hannah M. Bogart for 11 months (who died in 1856 probably from childbirth) with whom he had a daughter, Anna.
Son – Dr. Raymond Macdonald Alden (1873–1924) – Born at New Harford, New York, on March 30th. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was Professor of English in Leland Stanford Junior University (commonly called Stanford) during 1901-1911, 1914-1924 (1912-1914 he was at the University of Illinois). He married Barbara G. Hitt on May 24th 1904, in Alhambra, CA. His children were Donald, Elizabeth, John, Roland, and Raymond. He was a writer (penname Paranete) who wrote storybooks and stories for periodicals.
Daughter - Anna Alden – She was born in 1856, from Gustavus' first marriage. Ross and Pansy raised her at least until she was 23. Afterward, Anna lived with friend Theodosia Marie Foster in Oneida, NY.
Daughter - Frances B. Alden (born in 1892) – Adopted daughter born in Washington D.C.
Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (1865-1947) is a niece of Pansy. She is the daughter of Pansy's sister, Marcia MacDonald Livingston. Grace Livingston's first marriage was to Rev. Thomas Guthrie Hill. Her second marriage was to Flavius Josephus Lutz. She was a prolific writer who became very popular.
Theodosia Marie Foster (1838–1923) – Theodosia Marie Toll married James H. Foster (1833-1872). A friend and coauthor whose pen name was Faye Huntington. She taught at Oneida Seminary also.
Education:
Oneida Seminary (pupil and teacher).
Seneca Collegiate Institute, Ovid, N.Y.
Young Ladies Institute, Auburn, N.Y.
Oneida Seminary (pupil and teacher).
Seneca Collegiate Institute, Ovid, N.Y.
Young Ladies Institute, Auburn, N.Y.
Literary Employment:
The Pansy, editor (22-25 years).
Westminster Sunday School Teacher (25 years) editorial staff.
Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio, editorial staff (30-33 years).
Christian Endeavor World, staff (12 years).
Presbyterian Primary Quarterly, editor.
Trained Motherhood, staff.
The Pansy, editor (22-25 years).
Westminster Sunday School Teacher (25 years) editorial staff.
Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio, editorial staff (30-33 years).
Christian Endeavor World, staff (12 years).
Presbyterian Primary Quarterly, editor.
Trained Motherhood, staff.
Writing Themes:
Importance of living a Christian life
Importance of attending church service
Perils of worldly pursuits
Self-sacrifice
Duty of abstinence and the dangers of alcohol
Poverty, slums and tenements
Importance of living a Christian life
Importance of attending church service
Perils of worldly pursuits
Self-sacrifice
Duty of abstinence and the dangers of alcohol
Poverty, slums and tenements
Books and stories by Pansy:
Agatha's Unknown Way
An April Walk and Other Stories
An Hour with Miss Streator
An Interrupted Night
As in a Mirror
Aunt Hannah and Martha and John (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Bernie's White Chicken
Browning Boys (The)
Browns at Mt. Hermon (The)
By Way of the Wilderness (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Chautauqua Girls at Home (The) (also published as Obeying the Call)
Chrissy's Endeavor
Christie's Christmas
Christmas Time (A)
Cube (The)
Cunning Workmen
David Ransom's Watch
Divers Women (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Docia's Journal; or God Is Love
Doris Ferrand's Vocation
Dozen of Them (A)
Dr. Dean's Way (with Faye Huntington)
Eighty-Seven
Enlisted
Ester Ried: Asleep and Awake
Ester Ried: Yet Speaking
Ester Ried's Awakening
Ester Ried's Namesake
Five Friends
Fortunate Calamity (The)
Four Girls at Chautauqua
Four Mothers at Chautauqua
From Different Standpoints (with Faye Huntington)
Gertrude's Diary
Getting Ahead
Glimpses of Girlhood
Golden Thought (A) and Other Stories
Grace Holbrook and Other Stories of Endeavor and Experience
Grandma's Miracles; or, Stories Told at Six O'clock in the Evening.
Grandpa's Darlings
Hall in the Grove (The)
Hedge Fence (A)
Helen Lester
Helen the Historian
Her Associate Members
Her Mother's Bible
Household Puzzles
In the Woods and Out and Other Stories
Interrupted
Jessie Wells; or How to Save the Lost
John Remington Martyr (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Judge Burnham's Daughters
Julia Ried: Listening and Led
King's Daughter (The)
Lesson in Story (The)
Links in Rebecca's Life
Little By Little
Little Fishers: And Their Nets
Little Hands
Little Minnie and other Stories
Little Missionary (A)
Little People in Picture and Story
Long Way Home (The)
Lost on the Trail
Mag and Margaret: A Story for Girls
Making Fate
Man of the House (The)
Mara
Mary Burton Abroad, and Other Stories (with Mrs. C. M. Livinston, Faye Huntington, and others)
Memories of Yesterday
Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant
Miss Priscilla Hunter
Missent; or The Story of a Letter
Modern Prophets and Other Sketches (with Faye Huntington)
Modern Sacrifice (A): The Story of Kissie Gordon's Experiment
Monteagle
Mother's Boys and Girls
Mrs. Dean's Way
Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening
Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On
My Daughter Susan
New Graft on the Family Tree (A)
New Year's Tangles and Other Stories
Next Things and Dorrie's Day
Obeying the Call
Older Brother (The); A Story of Self Denials
One Commonplace Day
Only Ten Cents
Our Boys and Girls at Home and Abroad
Our Darlings
Overruled
Pansies and Other Stories
Pansies for Thoughts, from the writings of Pansy (compiled by Grace J. Livingston)
Pansy's Boys and Girls Picture Book
Pansy's Home Story Book
Pansy's Picture Book
Pansy's Picture Library
Pansy's Scrap Book
Pansy's Stories of Child Life (six volumes)
Pansy's Story Book
Pauline
People Who Haven't Time
Pictures from Bobby's Life; and Other Stories
Pocket Measure (The)
Pretty Soon
Prince of Peace (The) or the Beautiful Life of Jesus
Profiles (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Randolphs (The)
Red Ribbon
Reuben's Hindrances
Ruth Erskine's Crosses
Ruth Erskine's Son
Sevenfold Trouble (A)
Side By Side
Sidney Martin's Christmas
Six Little Girls
Some Young Heroines
Spun from Fact
Stephen Mitchell's Journey
Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus
Stories and Pictures from the New Testament
Sunday Book
Sunday Chat for Boys and Girls
Sunset Gate (The)
Sunshine Factory
Teacher's Helper (The)
That Boy Bob (with Faye Huntington)
Their Vacation and Other Stories of Striving and Doing
Those Boys
Three People
Three Times Three: A Story for Young People
Tip Lewis and His Lamp
Tony Keating's Surprises
Twenty Minutes Late
Two Boys
Unto the End
Wanted,
We Twelve Girls
What She Said: And What She Meant
What They Couldn't: A Home Story
Wise ALice and Other Stories
Wise and Otherwise
Workers Together; or, An Endless Chain
Worth Having
Yesterday Framed in Today: A Story of the Christ, and How Today Received Him
Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life
Young Folks Stories of Foriegn Lands
Young Folks Worth Knowing
An April Walk and Other Stories
An Hour with Miss Streator
An Interrupted Night
As in a Mirror
Aunt Hannah and Martha and John (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Bernie's White Chicken
Browning Boys (The)
Browns at Mt. Hermon (The)
By Way of the Wilderness (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Chautauqua Girls at Home (The) (also published as Obeying the Call)
Chrissy's Endeavor
Christie's Christmas
Christmas Time (A)
Cube (The)
Cunning Workmen
David Ransom's Watch
Divers Women (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Docia's Journal; or God Is Love
Doris Ferrand's Vocation
Dozen of Them (A)
Dr. Dean's Way (with Faye Huntington)
Eighty-Seven
Enlisted
Ester Ried: Asleep and Awake
Ester Ried: Yet Speaking
Ester Ried's Awakening
Ester Ried's Namesake
Five Friends
Fortunate Calamity (The)
Four Girls at Chautauqua
Four Mothers at Chautauqua
From Different Standpoints (with Faye Huntington)
Gertrude's Diary
Getting Ahead
Glimpses of Girlhood
Golden Thought (A) and Other Stories
Grace Holbrook and Other Stories of Endeavor and Experience
Grandma's Miracles; or, Stories Told at Six O'clock in the Evening.
Grandpa's Darlings
Hall in the Grove (The)
Hedge Fence (A)
Helen Lester
Helen the Historian
Her Associate Members
Her Mother's Bible
Household Puzzles
In the Woods and Out and Other Stories
Interrupted
Jessie Wells; or How to Save the Lost
John Remington Martyr (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Judge Burnham's Daughters
Julia Ried: Listening and Led
King's Daughter (The)
Lesson in Story (The)
Links in Rebecca's Life
Little By Little
Little Fishers: And Their Nets
Little Hands
Little Minnie and other Stories
Little Missionary (A)
Little People in Picture and Story
Long Way Home (The)
Lost on the Trail
Mag and Margaret: A Story for Girls
Making Fate
Man of the House (The)
Mara
Mary Burton Abroad, and Other Stories (with Mrs. C. M. Livinston, Faye Huntington, and others)
Memories of Yesterday
Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant
Miss Priscilla Hunter
Missent; or The Story of a Letter
Modern Prophets and Other Sketches (with Faye Huntington)
Modern Sacrifice (A): The Story of Kissie Gordon's Experiment
Monteagle
Mother's Boys and Girls
Mrs. Dean's Way
Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening
Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On
My Daughter Susan
New Graft on the Family Tree (A)
New Year's Tangles and Other Stories
Next Things and Dorrie's Day
Obeying the Call
Older Brother (The); A Story of Self Denials
One Commonplace Day
Only Ten Cents
Our Boys and Girls at Home and Abroad
Our Darlings
Overruled
Pansies and Other Stories
Pansies for Thoughts, from the writings of Pansy (compiled by Grace J. Livingston)
Pansy's Boys and Girls Picture Book
Pansy's Home Story Book
Pansy's Picture Book
Pansy's Picture Library
Pansy's Scrap Book
Pansy's Stories of Child Life (six volumes)
Pansy's Story Book
Pauline
People Who Haven't Time
Pictures from Bobby's Life; and Other Stories
Pocket Measure (The)
Pretty Soon
Prince of Peace (The) or the Beautiful Life of Jesus
Profiles (with Mrs. C. M. Livingston)
Randolphs (The)
Red Ribbon
Reuben's Hindrances
Ruth Erskine's Crosses
Ruth Erskine's Son
Sevenfold Trouble (A)
Side By Side
Sidney Martin's Christmas
Six Little Girls
Some Young Heroines
Spun from Fact
Stephen Mitchell's Journey
Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus
Stories and Pictures from the New Testament
Sunday Book
Sunday Chat for Boys and Girls
Sunset Gate (The)
Sunshine Factory
Teacher's Helper (The)
That Boy Bob (with Faye Huntington)
Their Vacation and Other Stories of Striving and Doing
Those Boys
Three People
Three Times Three: A Story for Young People
Tip Lewis and His Lamp
Tony Keating's Surprises
Twenty Minutes Late
Two Boys
Unto the End
Wanted,
We Twelve Girls
What She Said: And What She Meant
What They Couldn't: A Home Story
Wise ALice and Other Stories
Wise and Otherwise
Workers Together; or, An Endless Chain
Worth Having
Yesterday Framed in Today: A Story of the Christ, and How Today Received Him
Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life
Young Folks Stories of Foriegn Lands
Young Folks Worth Knowing