author
Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick
1788–1867
Known for writing moral, family-centered books for young readers in the early 1800s, she also left behind a striking miniature portrait of Elizabeth Freeman, the formerly enslaved woman closely connected to the Sedgwick household.
1 Audiobook
The Young Emigrants; Madelaine Tube; the Boy and the Book; and Crystal Palace
by Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick
About the author
Born in 1788, Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick was an American writer remembered for children's fiction in the early 19th century. Her work focused on stories for young readers, often with a clear moral thread and a strong sense of domestic life.
She married Theodore Sedgwick in 1808 and was part of the prominent Sedgwick family, whose members were active in public life and literature. Alongside her writing, she is also noted as an artist: she painted a watercolor-on-ivory portrait of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mum Bett, a woman whose life holds an important place in Massachusetts history.
Sedgwick died in 1867. Though she is less widely known today than some of her literary relatives, her books and surviving artwork offer a vivid glimpse of early American culture, family life, and children's literature.