Helen Hunt Fiske
Born 14 Oct. 1830 in Amherst, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts.[1] Daughter of Nathan Welby Fiske and Deborah Waterman Vinal.[2] Educated at Ipswich Female Seminary, in Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts, and Abbotts’ Institute, in New York City, 1846–1850.[3] Taught school at Abbotts’ Institute, 1850–1852.[4] Married first Edward Bissell Hunt, 28 Oct. 1852, in Boston; two children.[5] Husband died, 1863.[6] Established schools for freed Black children in Gordonsville, Orange Co., Virginia, 1865–1866.[7] Began her writing career in Newport, Newport Co., Rhode Island, 1866.[8] Visited Salt Lake City on her way to California, May 1872.[9] Seeking a cure for tuberculosis, spent the winter in Colorado Springs, El Paso Co., Colorado, 1873–1874.[10] Married second William S. Jackson, 22 Oct. 1875, in Wolfeboro, Carroll Co., New Hampshire; lived in Colorado Springs. [11] Actively opposed the unjust treatment of American Indians after hearing a lecture in Boston by Ponca chief Standing Bear, 1879.[12] Appointed as special agent of the Indian Bureau for the U.S. Department of the Interior to investigate the condition of the Mission Indians in California, 1883.[13] Met with EBW while in Salt Lake City, May 1883.[14] Died 12 Aug. 1885 in San Francisco; buried in Colorado Springs.[15]
[1] “Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620–1850: Amherst-V1,” database online, American Ancestors (www.americanancestors.org, accessed 30 Oct. 2019), Helen Fiske, vol. I, p. 111; from New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 23 Sept. 2021), Helen Maria Fiske (LCJ6-B4J).
[2] “Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620–1850: Amherst-V1,” database online, American Ancestors (www.americanancestors.org, accessed 30 Oct. 2019), Helen Fiske, vol. I, p. 111; from New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. Amherst, MA, Town Clerk, Vital Records, 1739–1891, Marriage Intentions Index, 1739–1849, p. 92, Nathan Welby Fiske and Deborah Waterman Vinal, microfilm 186126, DGS 7009210, image 251/498, FHL.
[3] Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:259. Susan Coultrap-McQuin, Doing Literary Business: American Women Writers in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 139.
[4] John S. C. Abbot and Jacob Abbot, Abbotts’ Institution for the Education of Young Ladies (New York: S. W. Benedict, 1850), 11. Susan Coultrap-McQuin, Doing Literary Business: American Women Writers in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 139.
[5] Boston, MA, City Registrar, Marriages (1646–1900), Register of Marriages (1891–1892), and Index of Marriages, (1646–1869), Marriages, 1850–1852, Edward B. Hunt and Helen W. Fiske, 28 Oct. 1852, microfilm 818096, DGS 4277240, image 630/690, FHL. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[6] “Major Edward B. Hunt,” National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 6 Oct. 1863, 3. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[7] “Starting the Freedmen,” Philadelphia Times, 30 Aug. 1885, 5.
[8] Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[9] H. H. [Helen Hunt], Bits of Travel at Home (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1878), 13–19. Stanley J. Thayne, “A Visit to the Beehive: Helen Hunt Jackson’s Impression of Salt Lake City and Mormonism,” Selections from the Religious Education Student Symposium 2005 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005), 179–197.
[10] Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[11] “Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., Church and Town Records, 1669–2013: PA-Chester, The Village Record,” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com, accessed 21 Sept. 2021), William S. Jackson and Mrs. Helen Hunt. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[12] Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260. Doris Gardner-McCraw, “The Many Names of Helen Hunt Jackson,” Writing Wranglers and Warriors (https://writingwranglersandwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/the-many-names-of-helen-hunt-jackson/, accessed 21 Sept. 2021).
[13] “By Telegraph,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 28 Mar. 1883, 148. Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 2:260.
[14] EBW, Diary, 29 May 1883. Helen Hunt Jackson, “The Women of The Bee-Hive,” Century, May 1884, 120–121.
[15] “Obituary,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 Aug. 1885, 4. “Helen Fiske Jackson,” Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso Co., CO, Find a Grave, posted 15 Aug. 1999, memorial no. 6097 (http://findagrave.com, accessed 21 Sept. 2021).