Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney (1824-1906)

American writer of books for girls, poet. Born 15 Sep 1824, Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney, American author whose message was "a woman's happiest place was in the home." Of course, that home was always well-to-do, peopled by good souls who always wanted to do the right thing. It made her immensely popular for almost a half century. It was the message people wanted to hear and some of her books went through 20 printings. One sold more than a thousand copies in one month. She opposed woman's suffrage. She was a better writer and story teller than critics will give her credit for. She was a capable woman of her times. She died 20 Mar 1906.

Johnson, Rossiter, ed., The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. 10 vols. (Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904). [A corrected edition of The Cyclopedia of American Biography (1897-1903) and Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States (1900-1903).] (Republished by Gale Research Company, Book Tower, Detroit, 1968)

Vol. X, p.393

WHITNEY, Adeline Dutton Train, author, was born in Boston, Mass., Sept. 15, 1824; daughter of Enoch and Adeline (Dutton) Train; granddaughter of Enoch and Hannah (Ewing) Train, and of Silas and Nancy (Tobey) Dutton. She attended the school of George B. Emerson, Boston, Mass., 1837-42; and was married, Nov. 7, 1843, to Seth Dunbar, son of Moses and Rebecca (Dunbar) Whitney of Milton, Mass. She wrote little for publication in early life, her first practical publication appearing in 1859. She patented a set of alphabet blocks, and is the author of: Footsteps on the Seas, a poem (1857); Mother Goose for Grown Folks (1860; new ed., 1870 and 1882); Boys at Chequasset (1862); Faith Gartney's Girlhood (1863); The Gayworthys (1865); A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life (1866); Patience Strong's Outings (1868); Hitherto (1869); We Girls (1870); Real Folks (1871); Pansies, poems (1872); The Other Girls (1873); Sights and Insights (1876); Just How: A Key to the Cook Books (1878); Odd or Even (1880); Bonnyborough (1885); Homespun Yarns (1886); Holy Tides (1886); Daffodils (1887); Bird Talk (1888); Ascutney Street (1890); A Golden Gossip (1891); Square Pegs (1894); Friendly Letters to Girl Friends (1896); The Open Mystery: A Reading of the Mosaic Story (1897); The Integrity of Christian Science (1900).

Her husband was Seth Dunbar⁷ Whitney [Moses⁶, Jacob⁵, Jonas⁴, Eleazer³, Thomas², John¹].

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