ELIZA JANE CATE.
Miss Cate was the eldest daughter of Captain Jonathan Cate, who commanded a company in the war of 1812. She was born in Sanbornton, N.H., in 1812, and soon achieved good rank as a pure, unaffected, and attractive writer. She was most prolific with her pen, and wrote on a large variety of subjects. Her admirers called her “the Edgeworth of New England.”
Her contributions to The Offering, notably “Susy L——’s Diary,” “Lights and Shadows of Factory Life,” and “Chapters on the Natural Sciences,” were widely read and commended. Her signature was usually “D.” She was a contributor to Peterson’s, over the signature of “By the Author of Susy L——’s Diary,” and wrote for Sartain’s and other magazines.
Her obituary notice, copied from the newspapers, said:—
“Miss Cate was the author of at least eight books, three of which were issued by the Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia, and two by J. Winchester of New York. She was a corresponding member of the New Hampshire Historical Society. She died in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1884. Miss Cate was retiring in her manner, but was of a genial and confiding nature; and in her character, as well as in her writings, were blended moral purity with the Christian graces.”