Susanna Musgrove Haswell Rowson

· Susanna Rowson was born at Portsmouth England in 1762.

· Her father was an officer named Lieutenant William Haswell of the Royal Navy and her mother Susanna Musgrave.

· Mother died at birth and her father later to be married to a Massachusetts woman named Rachel Woodward.

· Left with a nurse, Susanna was in England the first four years of her life until her father returned to bring her in the new world in 1766.

· Grew up in Massachusetts due to her father being stationed there and did not return to England until 1778.

· Captured for three years, the family returned to England as a prisoner exchange.

· With their property and savings taken by the Americans, the wealth of the family crumbled.

· She began to work as a governess.

· Published her first novel Victoria in 1786.

· She dedicated the novel to Duchess of Devonshire who was a big supporter of arts and women’s suffrage.

· Later that year she was to be married to a hardware merchant named William Rowson at the age of 24. They had no children of their own but adopted her husband’s children from previous marriage

· In 1791 she published her most successful novel first known as Charlotte, a Tale of Truth but changed the name to Charlotte Temple in later editions.

· In 1792 her and her husband went on stage due to his failing business.

· In 1793 they moved to America hoping to find a successful financial future by signing a contract to appear at Chestnut Street Theater in Philadelphia.

· During her time with the Thomas Wignell's theater company in Philadelphia, she played more than fifty-seven roles as well as writing songs and plays.

· The next few years (1794-1797), she wrote four plays such as, "Slaves in Algiers, or A Struggle for Freedom" ,"The Volunteer" ,"The Female Patriot" , and "Americans in England".

· In 1794 she published Charlotte Temple (in America) and quickly became Americas best seller until being beaten by Uncle Tom’s Cabin 58 years later.

· During those four years of playwriting, in 1796 they opened at the Federal Street Theatre in Boston.

· They performed across the East coast such as Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

· During this time she wrote various plays and musicals and aiming to improve the arts in the U.S.

· She retired from the stage and in 1797 opened the Young Ladies Academy in Boston.

· In the academy women learned basic traditional female subjects such as music and drawing but also mathematics and subjects only men use to learn.

· The academy was the United States first school for girls beyond elementary level.

· In the years 1802 to 1805 she was an editor for the Boston Weekly Magazine.

· By 1812, Charlotte Temple has sold more than 50,000 in copies and in forty five different editions.

· Themes in Susanna’s literary work were feminism, morality, and gender roles. Rowson appeals to housemaids and shop girls.

· Operated the academy until retiring in 1822.

· She died on March 2, 1824 in Boston.

· After her death, in 1828, Charlotte’s Daughter, the sequel to Charlotte Temple was published.

Work Cite

Fergenson, Laraine. Susanna Rowson. Bronx Community College City University of New York,2015. Web. 2016,Jan.24.

<http://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/eighteenth/rowson_su.html>

R.W.G., Vail. "Susanna Haswell Rowson, the Author of Charlotte Temple; A Biographical Study" Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc., XLII (n.s.), Part. I, 1933. Web. 2016, Jan24.

<http://www.ulib.niu.edu/badndp/rowson_susanna.html>

Susanna Rowson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2016

<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Susanna-Rowson>.