Caroline Kirkland

Her father died when she was 21 and the family followed her to upstate New York, where she taught and had met her future husband, William Kirkland.

In 1835 the Kirklands moved to the then frontier town of Detroit, Michigan, and in 1837 they founded the village of Pinckney on land that William had purchased.

A third book based on frontier life, Western Clearings, came out in 1845, after she had returned with her family to New York City.

Her home served as a literary salon and hosted notables including Edgar Allan Poe, William Cullen Bryant, Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, and others.

Her works continue to be studied in relation to style, contributions to American literature and the influence of the female perspective.

A New Home—Who'll Follow?, published under the pseudonym Mary Clavers, is a tale of the frontierswoman, important for its realism and celebration of the traditional female perspective.