Sarah Knowles Bolton

Born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1841, Sarah Knowles Bolton grew into a remarkably versatile writer whose career spanned poetry, biography, fiction, and journalism. After marrying Cleveland businessman and philanthropist Charles E. Bolton in 1866, she became active in reform circles and wrote extensively for newspapers and magazines.

Bolton served as one of the early corresponding secretaries of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union and was also associate editor of the Boston Congregationalist. Her books often focused on accomplished lives, especially those of women, and included popular biographical collections such as Lives of Girls Who Became Famous and Famous American Authors.

She died in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1916. Today, she is remembered both for her energetic literary career and for writing "Gradatim," a poem whose calm, encouraging message has helped keep her name in circulation long after her own era.