Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson:

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• Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson Female Genius of the
  Delaware Valley
• 1737-1801

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The Early Years

• Elizabeth, born into the elite, grew up outside
  of Philadelphia at the familys country estate,
  Graeme Park.
• Her family was both wealthy and influential.
• Around 1757 she became engaged to William
  Franklin, son of none other than Benjamin
  Franklin.
• Because both families opposed the marriage, the
  engagement was ultimately called off.

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Graeme Park, PA Historical Site
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• Between 1764 and 1765 Elizabeth was in London.
• Here, she met several leading literary and
  scientific figures.
• Upon her mothers death in 1765, she returned
  home in order to assume her duties as mistress of
  Graeme Park where she established a literary
  salon.

5
The Literature

• Elizabeth translated Francois de Salignac de La
  Mothe-Fenelons Telemaque during her recovery
  from her broken engagement to Franklin.
• Her translation was widely circulated and
  contributed towards earning her a prolific
  writing reputation.

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• Other writings during this period include a
  metrical version of the Psalms, documented
  correspondences between contemporaries, and a
  journal.
• Few of her writings were published in her
  lifetime.

7
Upon Marriage

• In April of 1772, Elizabeth married Henry H.
  Fergusson.
• After her fathers death in late 1772, she
  inherited Graeme Park and spent much of her time
  there, apart from her husband who spent much of
  his time in England.

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Revolution!

• During the American Revolution, Fergussons
  husband devoted himself to the cause of the
  Loyalists (people loyal to England during the
  war) while Elizabeth herself mildly support the
  cause of the Whigs (social reformists in
  opposition to the Loyalists).
• In October of 1777, her husband asked her to
  retrieve a letter from the Reverend Jacob Duche
  and carry it to General George Washington,
  telling him to surrender.
• Upon doing so, Washington chided her for her
  part in the episode.

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Female Revolutionary

• Fergussons role in such political proceedings
  (that episode with Washington was not her last),
  were neither advantageous to herself nor her
  husband.
• Following her husbands attainment and
  proscription, authorities confiscated her home,
  Graeme Park.
• Even after Graeme Park was restored to her in
  1781, she lost it again in 1791 because of
  financial reverses.
• After divorcing her husband in 1781, she began
  publishing poems in magazines and newspapers.

10
Writing

• Elizabeth, like many outspoken women of this era,
  used pseudonyms, but female ones.
• These women wanted to retain their class statuses
  without revealing their individual identities.
• Simply in being female, they would already be
  recognized as members of the upper or upper
  middle class elite.
• Elizabeth used an individuated pseudonym, like
  Laura or Sylvia as her writings were
  predominately circulated within a largely female
  community (Cima).

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• In much of her writings, both her poetry and her
  prose, Fergusson figures Nature as a kind of
  female-centered green retreat from the gaudy
  shew and noisy scandal of the city
  (Parrish).
• Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, according to scholar
  Susan Scott Parrish, was after 1765 considered
  the presiding female genius of the Delaware
  Valley (Shields 138) (Parrish).
• Because most of her work was unpublished, few
  peer criticisms exist.

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Bibliography

• Cima, Gay Gibson. Black and Unmarked Phillis
  Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren, and the Limits of
  Strategic Anonymity. Theatre Journal 52.4
  (2000) 465-495.
• http//www.britannica.com/eb/article-9125721/Eliza
  beth-Graeme-Ferguson
• Parrish, Susan Scott. Womens Nature Curiosity,
  Pastoral, and the New Science in British
  America. Early American Literature 37.2 (2002)
  195-245.
• www.wegoplaces.com