Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews

Joanna H. Mathews is commonly catalogued as Joanna Hooe Mathews (1849–1901), though research indicates that her middle name was Hone and that the 1849 birth year may be an error. Born into a prominent New York family, she was the daughter of Presbyterian minister and educator James McFarlane Mathews and attended Madame Reichard’s French Boarding and Day School.

Mathews published more than forty books for children, beginning in the 1860s. Her best-known works are the six Bessie Books, including Bessie at the Sea-Side, Bessie in the City, and Bessie at School. She also wrote the Miss Ashton, Haps and Mishaps, Uncle Rutherford, and Bradford series, as well as shorter stories, poems, and religious pieces.

She often worked alongside her sister Julia Mathews, another writer of children’s books. Mathews continued publishing into the 1890s and died in Summit, New Jersey, on April 28, 1901.