Mary E. (Mary Ella) Waller

Born in 1855, Mary Ella Waller was an American writer and educator associated with Vermont and New England. She taught before becoming known for fiction, and her writing often drew on the landscapes, communities, and speech of the region she knew best.

Waller wrote novels and stories for a broad popular audience during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She is especially connected with regional fiction, using village life, local character, and gentle social observation to create books that felt both grounded and inviting to readers of her time.

She died in 1938. Though not as widely read now as she once was, her work still offers a window into the literary world of turn-of-the-century New England and the kind of storytelling that made everyday places feel memorable.