People

Early Life and Family

Otis Waite’s 1895 book on the History of Claremont profiles Constance Fenimore Woolson as an “American Authoress”. 

On March 5, 1840 in Claremont, NH March 5, 1840, Constance was born, one of eight children of Charles Jarvis Woolson and Hannah Cooper Pomeroy. Miss Woolson was part of an influential and literary family on both sides. 

Her paternal grandfather, Thomas Woolson, described as an “ingenious mechanic” by Otis Waite and “a man of great inventive ability” and “very peculiar in his manners” by Hannah Cooper Pomeroy, was a state legislator and gifted inventor who operated a machine shop with Roswell Elmer east of the site of Sullivan manufacturing. His patents included the first successful iron cooking stove in America and parlor stoves – all known as Woolson stoves. Additionally, he created cast iron plows, machine cards, and clocks. Thomas built the Claremont’s town clock and other machinery related to the wool industry.

Constance’s maternal great-grandfather, Judge William Cooper, founded the village community of Cooperstown, New York. Woolson’s father met her mother when his work as a journalist brought him to Cooperstown, where the two wed in 1830. After some time, the newly wed couple returned to Claremont so Mr. Woolson could take up employment at his father’s firm. Hannah Cooper Pomeroy wrote a series of essays about her time in Claremont which are retained by the Claremont NH Historical Society. 

The Woolson family lived on Sullivan Street in a home where the Methodist Church is presently. Charles Woolson also built a home on Sullivan Street beside the old library block while working for his father’s stove foundry. Their family spent time with Mr. and Mrs. Samuel P. Fiske. Following Constance’s birth and the death of Thomas Woolson, the Woolson’s family moved to Cleveland, Ohio to help the family grieve the deaths of her three older sisters with scarlet fever. The three children and the grandfather, Thomas, are buried in the Old Burying Ground behind the Fiske Free Library on Barber Street. 

Constance acquired her taste for literature through education, travels and living in Europe, and her deeply literary family. Her grandmother Hannah Cooper Woolson, uncle James Fenimore Cooper (American Novelist of 19^th century known for the Last of the Mochicans), and her father Charles Jarvis Woolson all shared a love of literature and wrote. In addition to her study of classic literature, Miss Woolson studied French, German, and Italian in Europe. 

Career and Impact 

Constance Fenimore Woolson wrote fiction and essays for The Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine, poetry, short stories, and in the late 1800’s, published novels of her own. 

Constance spent her life traveling the world and writing. She traversed Europe, with a particular affinity for Germany, England, France, Italy, and Switzerland. Other places she visited included Greece, Jerusalem, and Egypt. She never married. 

Miss Woolson died on January 24, 1894 following a fall from a balcony in Venice, Italy. The conditions of her death are still the subject of speculation – was the fall accidental or intentional?

View pieces from Constance’s library and pick up a free copy of The Claremont Woolsons at the CHS museum today!