Kate Brownlee Sherwood


Kate Brownlee Sherwood was an American poet, journalist, and translator from Ohio, also known as a story writer, philanthropist, patron of art and literature.
After marriage, she at once entered into her husband's journalistic work, where she learned to set type, to read proof, and all the details pertaining to the work so that she might better aid him. She contributed to various magazines and periodicals, and since 1883, was an editor of the Woman's Department of the National Tribune at Washington City, a paper devoted to the interest of the soldiers. She is best known as the author of army lyrics and poems written for the celebration of military occasions. She was the author of: Camp-Fire and Memorial Poems ; Dreams of the Ages; a Poem of Columbia ; The Memorial of the Flowers, and Guarding the Flags . Her memorial poem, Albert Sidney Johnston, was written by Sherwood at the invitation of the Executive Committee for the Unveiling Ceremonies of the General Albert Sidney Johnston Equestrian Statue, held under the auspices of the Army of the Tennessee Louisiana Division at New Orleans. Helen Louisa Bostwick Bird and Alice Williams Brotherton were contemporary poets from Ohio.
Sherwood was also the founder of the Woman's Relief Corps and served as its second president.

Early years and education

Sherwood was born Katharine Margaret Brownlee in either Mahoning County, Ohio or Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania on either September 24, 1841 or September 25, 1841. She was of Scotch descent. Her ancestors were Revolutionary patriots. Her father was a classical scholar, and both parents were fond of song and poetry. One of the earliest recollections of the child is hearing them recount the ballads and lyrics of Scottish romance and adventure, which impressed upon her mind and cultivated her tastes for that style of poetry.
She was a daughter of Judge James and Rebecca Brownlee of Poland, Ohio; granddaughter of Alexander and Margaret Brownlee and of George and Katharine Mullen and a descendant of James and Margaret Brownlee, who came to America in 1800. James Brownlee Sr. was the Laird of Torfoot, in the parish of Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and his grandson, James, was successor, by inheritance; but he chose America and emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1828, and settled in Trumbull County, Ohio, and became associate judge of the third judicial district of which it was a part. She was educated in Poland Union Seminary.
At twelve, she was sent to school at Poland, Pennsylvania, and afterwards to a Presbyterian academy.

Career

Writer

She met Isaac R. Sherwood, an editor of Bryan, Ohio, while he was a student at the Ohio Law College.
On September 1, 1859, at the age of 18, they married Isaac R. Sherwood. Later, he became a General, Secretary of state and Congressman from Ohio. The general was the editor of the Canton, Ohio Daily News-Democrat, and attracted to journalism, she learned everything in the line of newspaper work from typesetting to leader-writing. While the husband was in Congress, Sherman served as Washington correspondent for Ohio journals. In 1883, General Sherwood became the sole proprietor of the Toledo Journal; Kate Sherwood assisted in the editorial management of the paper, until 1886, when Condict C. Packard and E. J. Tippett purchased the establishment. For 10 years, she edited the woman's department of the soldier organ, the National Tribune of Washington D.C. Her career as a journalist and society woman was varied and busy. She was one of the first members of the Washington Literary Club, and the Sorosis of New York City; she also served as vice-president for Ohio in the first call for a national congress of women.
In the spring of 1885, she published "Camp Fire and Memorial Poems," a volume of recitations for Grand Army camp fires, which was widely read, and some of the poems were translated into German; it passed through several editions. She was the chosen singer for many national celebrations, including army reunions, and in 1887, was the only northern poet ever invited by ex-Confederates to celebrate the heroism of a southern soldier. The broad, liberal and delicate manner in which she responded to that significant honor in her poem at the unveiling of the equestrian statue of Albert Sidney Johnston, in New Orleans, Louisiana, elicited praise. "Mission Ridge" was an account of the bravery and death of a drummer boy. "A Soldier's Retrospect" reminisced after the Civil War. "The Men who Wore the Shield" was a spirited patriotic address. "The Drummer Boy of Mission Ridge" was an account of the bravery and death of a drummer boy. Having studied French and German, Sherwood's translations of Heinrich Heine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich von Bodenstedt were widely copied.
Albert Sidney Johnston was a memorial poem, written by Sherwood at the invitation of the Executive Committee for the Unveiling Ceremonies of the General Albert Sidney Johnston Equestrian Statue, held under the auspices of the Army of the Tennessee, Louisiana Division at New Orleans, April 6, 1887, 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh and of General Johnston's death. Sherwood received the following letter:
Sherwood was a fine German scholar and translated very much from that literature. Some of her poems appeared in German periodicals.

Social reformer

Sherwood was the organizer of the first auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic outside of New England, and was a founder in 1883 of the national association known as the Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. She served that order as the first National Senior Vice-President and the second National President, organized the department of relief and instituted the National Home for Army Nurses, in Geneva, Ohio.

Personal life

Sherwood was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. She made her home in Canton, but died at her home in Washington, D.C. on February 15, 1914, aged 72. Their son, James Brownlee Sherwood, was associated with the father in the publishing business. Their daughter was Lenore Sherwood.

Selected works

Attribution

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