Ella Farman

Eliza Anna Farman Pratt (1837–1907) (pen names, Ella Farman and Dorothea Alice Shepherd) was an American writer of children's literature, best known for editing Wide Awake magazine for 16 years, starting in 1875.

Early life Farman was born November 1, 1837 in Augusta, New York, the daughter of Rev. Tural Tufts Farman and Hanna Burleson Farman.

Literary career In about 1870 Eliza Farman began writing in earnest, submitting work under the name of Ella Farman. When the story was expanded, and published as a book by D. Lothrop and Company in 1879, the pen name of Dorothea Alice Shepherd was used once more.

Farman wrote children's stories, and for the first few years she received editing help from her friend Emma Shaw. She edited Wide Awake from 1875 until 1891, with the assistance of co-editor Charles Stuart Pratt. Farman and Pratt wed in 1877.

Farman and Pratt also worked on other D. Lothrop Company children's magazines. They edited Babyland from 1877 to 1892 and then from 1894 to 1897. Farman also edited Our Little Men and Women (1880–1898).

From 1897 until shortly before her 1907 death Farman and Charles Stuart Pratt edited Little Folks, a children's magazine published by S. E. Cassino Company, in Salem, Massachusetts. Pratt continued on as editor until 1909. Until at least 1912 the Little Folks Contents page stated “Edited from foundation to May, 1909, by Charles S. and Ella Farman Pratt.”

During her work as editor Farman published approximately 20 books, most of them for children.

Farman Pratt was in poor health for several years, before dying at her home from myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle) and neurasthenia (fatigue, anxiety) on May 22, 1907. She was buried in South Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Selected works Anna Maylie (1873) A Little Woman : A Story for Other Little Women (1873) Anna Maylie : A Story of Work. (1873) A Girl's Money (1874) A White Hand (1875) Mrs. Hurd's Niece : Six Months of a Girl's Life (1876) The Doll Doctor, and Other Stories, (1877) Sugar Plums (1877) Good-for-Nothing Polly (1877) Little Miss Mischief and Her Happy Thoughts (1878) How Two Girls Tried Farming (as Dorothea Alice Shepherd) (1879) The Home Primer (1882) Nursery Primer (1882) Rosabell's Adventure (1883) Christmas Snowflakes (1883) Yule Tide (1884) Polly Himself (1886) The Cooking Club of Tu-Whit Hollow (1886) All the World Over : Interesting Stories of Travel, Thrilling Adventure and Home Life (1892) Mrs. White's Party : and Other Stories (1894) Happy Children (1896) A Dozen Darlings and Their Doings (1898) The Play Lady : a Story for Other Girls (1900) The Little Cave-Dwellers (1901) "Chicken Little" : Picture Guessing Story for Little Children (1903) The Little Owls at Red Gates (1903) Dear Little Sheila : a Picture Guessing Story for Children (1905) Grandma Crosby's Household. a Story for Girls (1907)