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Martha Haines Butt

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Martha Haines Butt Bennett
BornMartha Haines Butt
November 22, 1833
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
DiedFebruary 9, 1871 (aged 37)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation
  • author
  • suffragist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
  • Patapsco Female Institute
  • Harrisburg Female College
Genre
  • short stories
  • essays
  • sketches
Notable worksAntifanaticism: A Tale of the South
Spouse
Nathan Ives Bennett
(m. 1865)

Martha Haines Butt (after marriage, Bennett; November 22, 1833 – February 9, 1871) was an American proslavery author primarily known by her maiden name. She was a contributor to various periodicals and magazines, in both the North and South.[1] At the age of 19, she published Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, an 1853 plantation fiction novel.[2] Though she had written anti-woman's rights editorials in the 1850s, by 1870, she supported women's suffrage.

Biography

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Martha Haines Butt was born in Norfolk, Virginia, November 22, 1833.[3] She was an only child.[4] Her father, Francis Butt, was of English ancestry; her mother, Mary Ann Morriss Butt, a milliner, was of French ancestry.[3]

During the period of 1847–50, Butt was educated at Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott's Mills,[3] near Baltimore, and received her diploma there. She was presented with a gold medal and the degree of A. M. (Artium Magister) by Harrisburg Female College.[4]

Butt's first appearance in print was at the age of fourteen, although she had written for several years before that time.[4] Her 1853 novel, Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South, was a proslavery response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.[5][6] Butt's volume of Leisure Moments was a collection of her short stories, essays, and sketches. Pastimes with Little Friends was published in 1866.[1][4] Butt was an occasional contributor to the periodical press of the country, and a frequent writer to the Ladies' Home Journal.[7]

On July 6, 1865, in Norfolk, she married Nathan Ives Bennett, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. They lived in Bridgeport before removing to New York City.[4][3] After marriage, she continued to be primarily known by her maiden name.

In 1870, Butt served as vice president of the Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association.[3]

Death and legacy

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Martha Haines Butt died of pneumonia at the Grand Central Hotel, New York City, February 9, 1871.[3][7]

Butt's arm and hand were copied as a model by the artist William Randolph Barbee, of Virginia, for the statue of the Fisher Girl.[4]

Selected works

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Antifanaticism (1853)

References

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  1. ^ a b Davidson 1869, pp. 42.
  2. ^ Larson 2008, p. 75.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Butt, Martha Haines (1833–1871)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Tardy 1870, p. 806.
  5. ^ Wallace-Sanders 2008, p. 24.
  6. ^ "Collective Biographies of Women". cbw.iath.virginia.edu. The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Personal". The Buffalo Commercial. 11 February 1871. p. 2. Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon

Attribution

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Bibliography

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