Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews

Joanna H. Mathews was an American author of children’s fiction whose books were especially popular in the late 1800s. Catalogs such as Project Gutenberg and The Online Books Page list a large body of her work, including Bessie at the Sea-Side, Bessie on Her Travels, Bessie among the Mountains, and Uncle Rutherford’s Nieces.

A biographical study of Joanna and her sister Julia Mathews describes the sisters as children’s authors and notes that Joanna’s first book, Guy Hamilton: A Story of Our Civil War, appeared in 1866. The same study says she wrote more than fifty books and that her success earned her a place in the first volume of Who’s Who in America in 1899.

Her books are remembered for their warm, domestic settings and their focus on the everyday adventures, friendships, and moral growth of young girls. I couldn’t confirm a suitable portrait image from reliable page images during this search, so no profile image is included here.