Margaret Miller Davidson
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Margaret Miller Davidson | |
|---|---|
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| Born | March 26, 1823 |
| Died | November 25, 1838 (aged 15) |
| Occupation | Poet |
Margaret Miller Davidson (March 26, 1823 – November 25, 1838) was an American poet. Following in the footsteps of her sister Lucretia Maria Davidson, Margaret wrote from a young age, producing a body of poems and a diary. Her work was edited by Washington Irving after her death by tuberculosis at age fifteen.
Professor Walter Harding wrote in the mid-twentieth century that Davidson "was once of the best-known poets in America."[1]
Margaret Miller Davidson was born March 26, 1823, in Plattsburg, New York.[2] She was the youngest daughter of Oliver and Margaret Davidson.[1] Her sister Lucretia died at age sixteen when Margaret was two years old, and her mother encouraged Margaret's literary development; her mother wrote of Lucretia's death that "on ascending to the skies, it seemed as if her poetic mantle fell like a robe of light on her infant sister."[3] Margaret was tutored by her mother and never sent to school.[4] At age six, she was reading the works of John Milton, Lord Byron, and Walter Scott.[5]
Like her mother and sister Lucretia, Margaret was in frail health from birth.[1] She spent the winter of 1832/1833 visiting a sister in Canada, where she fell ill to scarlet fever.[1] The family moved frequently within New York in search of a healthier environment for the afflictions of the mother and daughter; between 1833 and 1838 they moved to Ballston, to the rural outskirts of New York City, back to Ballston, and then to Saratoga.[4] Throughout her life, Davidson cared for her frequently ill mother and studied languages, philosophy, and history, in addition to writing poems and a diary.[6]
Davidson died November 25, 1838, in Saratoga.[2]
