Marietta Holley

Samantha at the St. Louis Exposition (Dodo Press) Marietta Holley

Marietta Holley (1836-1926) was a popular United States humorist who used satire to comment on U. S. society and politics. She was the youngest of seven children and was an unhealthly child. This caused her to become a private person. At the age of 14 she stopped her formal education to help her family on their farm. After her father died she took care of the farm and her sick mother and sister. When she was 17 she joined the Adams village Baptist Church. There she found her voice. In 1860 she sent her poetry to the Adams Journal. Her successful series of Samantha books revolved around the character of Samantha Allen, a wise small-town woman who went on satirical adventures throughout big-city America, and her foolish husband, Josiah Allen. Holley was so skilled with satire and so popular that she was often compared to Mark Twain. Her works include: My Opinions and Betsy Bobbet's (1873), Poems (1887), Samantha at the World's Fair (1893) and Samantha on the Woman Question (1913).