Ada Langworthy Collier

Born in Dubuque, Iowa, on December 23, 1843, Ada Langworthy Collier grew up in a family closely tied to the early history of the city. She was educated at Lasell Seminary near Boston, and from an early age she was drawn to writing.

Collier published poems, sketches, short stories, and novels, sometimes using the pen names Anna L. Cunningham and Marguerite. Her best-known work is Lilith, The Legend of the First Woman (1885), a book that helped keep her name alive with later readers interested in 19th-century poetry and retellings of mythic subjects.

She also took part in literary and cultural life in California for a time before eventually returning to Dubuque, where she died on August 6, 1919. Her career reflects the wide-ranging work of many 19th-century women writers, moving easily between poetry, fiction, and magazine writing.