Author: Mary Dwinell Chellis
Author: Mary Dwinell Chellis (1826–1891)
Alternate Name(s): Lund (married name); Mrs. Stephen F. Lund (familiar name)
Biography: A prolific writer of temperance fiction, Mary Dwinell Chellis was born in 1826 in Goshen Township, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, USA. Her parents, Seth Chellis and Myra Gilbert Chellis, were devout Congregationalists and engaged in civic affairs. Consequently, Mary was connected to the church her entire life. She also received an education in a time when many girls did not. Chellis eventually became a primary school teacher in 1853 when she was living in the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts. She eventually became a head teacher and made education a life-long focus along with her writing. While still in high school, Chellis began writing, sharing, and publishing her writing. Some sources claim she associated with other working-class female writers, specifically those who created The Lowell Offering (1840-45), a periodical written and edited by the female mill workers in Lowell. Chellis’s first novel, Old Sunapee (1860), was published in Boston. She published at least one novel every year for more than thirty years, and a few titles appeared in Britain including Clarence Vane: Or, How the Doctor Saved, At Lion's Mouth, and Out of the Fire, all published in Glasgow by John S. Marr and Sons in 1875. Most of her novels focused on evangelical themes and especially advocated the Temperance Cause, or total abstinence from alcohol. Her works also encompassed reforms in women’s health, welfare, and education. Chellis was a key player in local and national reform efforts. She was an active member and leader in her local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and served on the New Hampshire Woman’s Board of Missions. In 1877, she married Stephen F. Lund (a widower). They did not have any children together. When she died in 1891 from influenza, she had written at least 50 books (mostly novels) and innumerable periodical pieces on themes as varied as temperance and woman suffrage to education and foreign missionary work. (LS)
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References: Larisa (Schumann) Asaeli, “Legacy Profile: Mary Dwinell Chellis Lund (1826-1891),” Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers (2014)
Fiction Titles:
- Clarence Vane: Or, How the Doctor Saved. 1 vol. Glasgow: John S. Marr and Sons, 1875.
- At Lion's Mouth. 1 vol. Glasgow: John S. Marr and Sons, 1875.
- Out of the Fire. 1 vol. Glasgow: John S. Marr and Sons, 1875.