Parker, Helen Fitch (1827 - 1874) Rambles After Land-Shells (1863)

She was born in Auburn, NY, in 1827 and educated at Auburn female seminary (Wilson & Fiske 654). In 1852, she married Samuel Parker, a Presbyterian clergyman and missionary and the son of Rev. Samuel Parker of Ithaca (Allibone 51). He is said to have been the first to suggest constructing a railroad through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean (Wilson & Fiske 654). He graduated at Amherst College in 1843 and published several volumes of poetry including Poems (Auburn, 1850).

Among Helen Fitch Parker's publications are Sunrise and Sunset (Auburn, 1854), Morning Stars of the New World, (New York, 1854), Rambles after Land-Shells (Boston, 1863), Missions and Martyrs of Madagascar, (Boston, 1864) Frank's Search for Seashells, (Boston, 1866), Constance Aylmer, (New York, 1868), Blind Florette, (Boston, 1871), and Arthur's Aquarium, (Boston, 1872). She died in 1827 in Amherst, Massachusetts on 4 December 1874.

Allibone, Austin S. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased From The Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1870. 1501.

Wilson, James Grant & John Fiske. A Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: Appleton, 1888. 654.

Wallace, W. Stewart. A Dictionary of North American Authors Deceased Before 1950. Toronto: Ryerson, 1951. 343.