Carolyn "Carrie" Renfrew (c. 1858 – July 6, 1948) was an American writer from Hastings, Nebraska.

Carrie Renfrew, A Woman of the Century

Renfrew was born in Marseilles, Illinois, about 1858 to Silvester and Mercy Clark Renfrew, and moved to Nebraska with her family as a child. She began contributing to publications including the Chicago Inter Ocean in 1885.[1] Her works include Songs of Hope (book of poems 1923); The Last of the Strozzi and The Lure (poetic plays 1923), Footprints Across the Prairie (novel, 1930), My Garden (poem collection, 1933), and John Golding's Vision (1938).[2][3][4]

Though not broadly known, Renfrew was one of the most prominent persons from Hastings, being listed as a resident of the town in the 1930s Federal Writers' Project volume on Nebraska,[5] and being the subject of biographical entries in the 1932 volume Nebraskana, and the 1890s American Women compilation, to which she contributed entries on Nebraska citizens.[1]

Renfrew died in Hastings on July 6, 1948, survived by her brother Herman and sister Jennie Babcock.[6]

Bibliography edit

  • Songs of Hope (1923, poetry)
  • The Last of the Strozzi and The Lure (1923, two plays in one volume)
  • Footprints Across the Prairie (Burton Publishing, 1930, first novel)[7]
  • My Garden (1933, poetry)
  • John Golding's Vision (1938, novel)
  • Plays: A Collection of Six Poetic Dramas (Burton Publishing, 1943)

References edit

  1. ^ a b American women: fifteen hundred biographies with over 1,400 portraits, p. 604 (1897)
  2. ^ Nebraskana, p. 997 (1932)
  3. ^ Carrie Renfrew, The Magazine of Poetry, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 198 (April 1890)
  4. ^ (15 January 1939). More or Less Personal, Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, Section D, p. 4, col. 3 (paragraph on release of new novel)
  5. ^ Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State, p. 169 (1939)
  6. ^ (7 July 1948). Carolyn Renfrew, State Writer, Dies. Lincoln Evening Journal, p. 1, col. 2
  7. ^ (5 July 1930). A First Novel Treats of Nebraska Settlers, Kansas City Star, p. 4, col. 4