Emily Gillmore Alden

Emily Gillmore Alden (pen name, E. G. A.; January 21, 1834 – June 6, 1914) was an American author and educator. For forty years, Alden was a member of the faculty of Monticello Seminary, and for nearly fifty years, the poet of the school. Alden wrote the commencement day poems for Monticello every year since she entered the institution. Harriet Newell Haskell : a span of sunshine gold was published in 1908 and Poems by Emily Gillmore Alden was published in 1909.

Early life and education Emily Gillmore (or, "Gilmore") Alden was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 21, 1834. On April 11, her mother, Emily (Gillmore) Alden, died. Her father, Joseph Warren Alden, remarried and Alden had three half siblings, Ann Frances, Joseph Henry, and James Birney. Alden was of Pilgrim ancestry, being a descendant of John Alden, a crew member of the Mayflower.

In infancy, before the mother's death, the family removed to Cambridge, Massachusetts and Alden's education was pursued in the public schools of that city, and in Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College), South Hadley, Massachusetts, (1855). While attending Mount Holyoke, Alden made the acquaintance of Harriet Newell Haskell, and the two became life-long companions.

Career

Alden's career was chiefly that of a teacher, starting in Castleton, Vermont. She came with Haskell to Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Illinois in 1868. In this latter institution, Alden had charge of the departments of history, rhetoric, and English literature, and of senior classes for graduation, as well as physiology, zoology and United States history. Alden was connected with Monticello Seminary till 1907,

Death and legacy Alden and Haskell shared a common home and finances for more than 50 years. After the latter's death, Alden removed to her sister-in-law's (Mrs. J. H. Alden) home in Boston and died there on June 6, 1914, at the age of 81.

Selected works By E. G. A. Harriet Newell Haskell : a span of sunshine gold, 1908

By Emily Gillmore Alden

Poems by Emily Gillmore Alden, 1909 (published by Melling & Gaskins) "Monticello Seminary", 1888 (poem)