Helen Truesdell
Historical
Sketches of Kentucky by Lewis Collins, Maysville, KY. and J. A.
& U. P. James, Cincinnati, 1847. Volume 1. Reprinted 1968. Campbell
County. The Poets and Poetry of Kentucky, page 585.
Helen Truesdell as a resident of Newport, Ky., when, in 1856, the 5th
edition of a 12 mo. volume, 212 pages, of "Poems by Helen Truesdell"
was published. She had
been a contributor to the Parlor Magazine, the Ladies Repository, and
other periodicals. The daily newspapers praised the volume as "possessing
high poetic merit."
Note: Poem shown: "The Young Wife's Song."
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Helen Truesdell (December 6, 1820, Fayette Co. Ohio – July 23, 1911, Brodhead WI)
Truesdell was a descendant of Anne Bradstreet (considered the “first Anglo-American poet of merit in the early American colonies”) and was equally as talented of a poet as her ancestor. Truesell’s poems were a regular occurrence in magazines such as Parlor Magazine and the Ladies Repository among other publications.
Her first marriage ended only a few months after it began when her husband drowned; Truesdell dealt with the lost through writing more poetry. Truesdell’s second marriage also ended with the death of her husband newspaper editor, James E. Truesdell. The book, Poems by Mrs. Helen Truesdell, was published in 1853 and was quickly praised for her abilities.
Truesdell moved to Newport and lived there for some time as she worked on her second collection of poetry. After marrying a third time, Truesdell and her husband moved to Wisconsin to be close to family. During the Civil War Truesdell continued to write, this time in support of the Union. Truesdell died a widow in 1911 at the age of 90.