McQuown, Madeline Reeder, 1906-1975

Madeline Reeder McQuown (1906-1975) was born 31 March 1906 in Ogden, Utah. She was educated in the public schools in Ogden and then attended Weber College and the University of Utah. Although she spent several years in San Francisco and San Jose, California, she lived most of her life in Ogden. An early marriage to Jarvis Thurston, an instructor of mathematics at Weber College, ended in 1940. On 28 January 1941, she married Thomas McQuown. Throughout her life Madeline McQuown's greatest interest was writing. Her early years were spent writing poetry and fiction. In the early 1930s she attended the Breadloaf School for Writers at Middlebury College in Vermont. Her poem "To Those Unsuspecting" was published in 1939 in an anthology by the students and faculty of Breadloaf, including Robert Frost. Later her attention turned to researching and writing a biography of Brigham Young, which she never completed. In addition Mrs. McQuown wrote numerous essays on Utah and the Mormons and book reviews. Unfortunately, few of her published works are available. Dale Morgan and Madeline McQuown worked together on the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Writers' Project, and during the 1930s and forties they corresponded frequently. In Morgan's correspondence there are commentaries on the works of Utah's most noted historians including Fawn M. Brodie, Juanita Brooks, and Bernard DeVoto, whom Mrs. McQuown greatly admired. It was with Dale Morgan's advice and support that Mrs. McQuown worked for thirty years on her biography of Brigham Young. Madeline McQuown also corresponded with LeConte Stewart, who had been her high school art instructor, and collected many of his paintings. With these historians, critics, and artists, Madeline McQuown shared a fascination and love for the history and culture of the West. Mrs. McQuown died in Ogden on 29 May 1975.

From the guide to the Madeline R. McQuown papers, 1803-1976, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)