Life and writings of Amelia Bloomer

by D. C. Bloomer

HER MARRIAGE.

School-teaching however soon ended; and shortly after, she became a member of the family of her sister Elvira, then recently married and residing in Waterloo, New York, to which place her father’s family also removed about the same time. Here the days passed along smoothly and quietly until about the year 1837, when she became an inmate in the family of Mr. Oren Chamberlain residing near Waterloo, as the governess and tutor of his three youngest children. This position she continued to fill with entire satisfaction for two or three years. The children all lived to years of maturity, and always manifested great affection in subsequent years for their former teacher. In this family, the life of Miss Jenks moved along quietly and evenly. She enjoyed fully its confidence and the love of her pupils. She formed new friendships and the circle of her acquaintances was widened. Among the latter, was a young man residing in Seneca Falls engaged in the study of law, while taking also a large interest in the political movements of that day. They met quite frequently, and soon strong ties of friendship were formed between them, and the friendship ripened as the months passed by into love. They became engaged, and finally were married at the residence of John Lowden in the village of Waterloo, New York, on the 15th day of April, 1840, by the Rev. Samuel H. Gridley, the Presbyterian clergyman of the village; and in subsequent years Mrs. Bloomer frequently alluded with much satisfaction to the fact that he omitted altogether the word “obey” in the marriage ceremony. Only a few friends were present at the marriage, but among them besides Mr. and Mrs. Lowden were A. E. Chamberlain, Miss Caroline Starks, and Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Fuller, all of whom together with Mr. Lowden are still living at the time (March, 1895) of writing these lines.

At the time of this marriage Mr. Bloomer was twenty-four years of age, quite tall and slim, weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds, with gray eyes, a rather tall forehead, and long arms, and of bashful and reserved demeanor. His bride was much smaller, five feet four inches in height, and weighed about a hundred pounds. She had a well-formed head, bright, blue eyes bordering on black, auburn hair and an exceedingly pleasant and winning smile. Like her husband, she was reserved in manner, and very unwilling to force herself upon the notice of strangers, but when she once became acquainted with them she enjoyed their society most heartily. She was small in person and modest in demeanor, and standing beside her tall husband, at once attracted the attention and secured the confidence of her friends and associates. She was twenty-two years of age at the time of her marriage. Her husband, Dexter C. Bloomer, was of Quaker parentage, had a fairly good common-school and academic education, had spent several years in teaching school, commenced the study of law at the age of twenty, and at the time of his marriage was still a student and one of the proprietors and editors of the Seneca County Courier, a weekly newspaper printed in Seneca Falls, N. Y.

The day following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer drove in a carriage to the residence of Mr. Isaac Fuller, in Seneca Falls, where rooms had been prepared for their reception. Mr. Fuller was Mr. Bloomer’s partner in the printing business, and both he and his excellent wife are still (in 1895) living in the same town, and have ever proved most dear and excellent friends of the young couple who on the 16th day of April, 1840, took up their residence with them.

Mr. Bloomer had very many friends in the town, and on the evening of his arrival with his bride they filled Mr. Fuller’s rooms to welcome the newly wedded couple to their new home and their new life. With them came many members of a fire company of which Mr. Bloomer was a member, accompanied by a band of music, and all went merry as a marriage bell. Refreshments were of course served, and among them a plentiful supply of wine, for in those days, this was the almost certain accompaniment of all social gatherings. All, or nearly all, partook of it; and just then occurred an incident which told most instructively as to the moral character and firmness of the young and happy bride. Glasses were filled with the sparkling beverage, and one of them was presented to her by the bridegroom himself, but she firmly yet pleasantly declined to accept it. “What,” he said with the greatest earnestness, “will you not drink a glass of wine with me on this joyful occasion? Surely it can do you no harm.” “No,” she smilingly yet firmly replied, “I cannot,—I must not.” A crowd of guests standing around could but admire her great self-denial and devotion to principles; and ever after, to the end of her days, she was the firm and consistent advocate of Temperance and the unceasing enemy of strong drink in all its varied forms.

TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO!

The year 1840 was a memorable one in the history of this country. It witnessed the great “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too,” campaign, in which Gen. William Henry Harrison and Martin Van Buren were opposing candidates. The whole country went wild with political speech-making, songs, log-cabins, great gatherings of people and enormous processions of the opposing hosts. Mr. Bloomer was absorbed heart and soul in the contest. He was the editor of the only Whig paper in the village and county, and he was present at political caucuses, conventions and assemblages in all that region. His wife at first took little interest in the great hubbub raised over the land. In fact, her health was quite delicate that first summer of her married life. It is remembered distinctly now by the writer of these lines, that while he was on the 4th of July, 1840, delivering an address at a political celebration, she was at home prostrated with some form of intermittent fever. His address over, he hastened to her bedside; and soon after, having so far recovered as to leave her room, she was taken to Avon Springs, in western New York, where she regained her health so as to return to her boarding place early in August. But Mrs. Bloomer gradually became interested in the political turmoil so far as to attend political gatherings, visit the log-cabin which stood on one of the principal streets of the town, and assist in preparing badges and mottoes for the use of those who espoused the cause advocated by her husband.

And so the months moved quietly along during that eventful year, and the first of October found Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer settled down to housekeeping in a modest dwelling in Seneca Falls. The great election contest terminated in November, and they both rejoiced most heartily in the result, although what particular benefit it would be to either of them, except the satisfaction of being on the winning side, it would have been very difficult for either to very fully explain.

A WRITER FOR NEWSPAPERS.

As has already been stated, Mr. Bloomer was one of the editors of a village paper printed in Seneca Falls. He was a great reader of books and newspapers, and sought to inspire in his young wife a similar love for the current literature of the day. This was no difficult task, for she also was fond of books and sought in all suitable ways to store her mind with useful knowledge. But Mr. Bloomer desired her to go further and become a writer for the papers also. He had got the idea well fixed in his mind, from letters received from her during the years preceding their marriage, that she possessed the power of expressing her thoughts on paper with both ease and grace. But from the natural modesty of her character, she was quite unwilling to embark in this to her new and untried field of mental experience. Nevertheless, through the kind and persuasive appeals of the husband the young wife began to commit her thoughts to paper, and from time to time there appeared in the newspapers of the town various articles bearing upon the social, moral and political questions of those times. They all appeared anonymously, sometimes written over one signature and then over another, but they all came from Mrs. Bloomer’s pen and excited no little curiosity among the people of the town as to their real author. It was in this way that Mrs. Bloomer acquired that easy and pleasant style of writing for publication which so marked her career in later years.