author

S. T. (Sarah Towne) Martyn

1805–1879

A 19th-century American writer and reform-minded voice, she is best remembered for lively historical and religious books that brought the past to life for general readers. Writing as S. T. Martyn and Mrs. S. T. Martyn, she published widely through the American Tract Society.

1 Audiobook

Our Village in War-time

Our Village in War-time

by S. T. (Sarah Towne) Martyn

About the author

Sarah Towne Smith Martyn was born on August 15, 1805, in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, and died on November 22, 1879, in New York City. Reference sources identify her as the daughter of Ethan Smith and Bathsheba Sanford Smith, and note that she married Job H. Martyn in 1841. She also wrote under the names Sarah Towne Martyn and Mrs. S. T. Martyn.

She became known for historical and religious writing aimed at a broad audience. Listings of her works show titles such as Allan Cameron; or, The Three Birthdays, The English Exile; or, William Tyndale at Home and Abroad, The Hopes of Hope Castle, and Women of the Bible, many of them issued by the American Tract Society.

Modern reference entries also describe her as an author and reformer. Taken together, the sources suggest a writer who used accessible storytelling and biography to connect faith, history, and moral instruction for 19th-century readers.