Maud Wilder Goodwin (June 5, 1856 – February 5, 1935) was an American writer of historical fiction, biographies, and popular histories.
Maud Wilder Goodwin
| |
|---|---|
| Born | (1856-06-05)June 5, 1856
Ballston Spa, New York, U.S.
|
| Died | February 5, 1935(1935-02-05) (aged 78)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
|
| Occupation | Writer |
Maud Wilder was born in Ballston Spa, New York, the daughter of John N. Wilder and Delia A. Wilder.[1] Her older sister Blanche, also a writer,[2] married lawyer Frederick P. Bellamy, the brother of writer Edward Bellamy.[3]
Goodwin's books were commercially successful,[4] and generally well-reviewed by critics. The Literary World found The Colonial Cavalier "very gay and charming,"[5] and Dolly Madison a "delightfully written, carefully gleaned biography".[6] Public Opinion found White Aprons to be "animated with fresh and absorbing interest."[7] "There is nothing specially startling in her plot of her situations," noted The Richmond Times-Dispatch about Richmond's novel, Four Roads to Paradise. "But she has endowed her characters with life and the ability to enjoy it; she has infused a strong dramatic element into her scenes; she has described her surroundings well, and she has given zest and animation to her conversations and dialogues."[8]
A quote by Goodwin ("My dear, whenever you feel that it would relieve your mind to say something, don't say it") was included in the Chicago Woman's Club's calendar for 1905.[25]
Wilder married lawyer Almon Goodwin in 1879. They had daughter Miriam and Hilda,[1] and a son, Wilder.[26] Her husband died in 1905, and Goodwin died in 1935, at the age of 78, at her son's home in Greenwich, Connecticut.[27]