Emma May Buckingham

Buckingham taught school in Scranton, Hazleton, and Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and was principal at a school in Westbrook, Connecticut.^[2] Poor health disrupted her employment; "'over-much study' prostrated a delicate organism, and failing health induced her to resign her place," according to one account.^[1] She wrote articles for teachers' journals, including "Aesthetic Culture", "Music in Taste-Culture", and "Eye and Hand Culture", all in Pennsylvania School Journal.^[3][4][5]

Buckingham is known for her first book, A Self-Made Woman: or, Mary Idyl’s Trials and Triumphs (1873), a novel in which the main character is a "sickly" woman writer, nurse, and teacher, who is disowned by her father for pursuing an education and a career.^[6] The novel was a success through at least three editions.^[7] Further published works by Buckingham included Pearl: A Centennial Poem (1877),^[8] The Silver Chalice, and Other Poems (1878), Parson Thorne's Trial, a Novel (1880),^[9] Modern Ghost Stories (1906),^[10] and His Second Love (1907).^[11][12]

Buckingham lived in Honesdale and Hamlin, Wayne County, Pennsylvania as an adult, caring for her mother until her mother died in 1904. She was a member of the Honesdale Presbyterian Church, and active in the local chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and other temperance events.^[13] The women of Hamlin gave a surprise party for Buckingham's birthday in 1913.^[14] She died at the "Home for the Friendless" in Scranton in 1919, a few days before her 83rd birthday.^[2][15]