Brownell family

Lucia Emilia DeWolf (1795-1884) was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, the daughter of Charles DeWolf and Elizabeth Rogerson. She married Pardon Brownell (1788-1846) in 1815, and had six children by him before he died in 1846. Her first four children were born in Providence, Rhode Island, and the last two in East Hartford, Connecticut. Two of her children died before the age of 16: Francis D. Brownell, her first born (1817-1833), and Emilia D. Brownell, her only daughter (1823-1838). Her surviving children were Henry Howard Brownell (1820-1872), Charles DeWolf Brownell (1822-1909), Edward Rogerson Brownell (1825-1889), and Clarence Melville Brownell (1828-1862). After her husband's death, she moved back and forth between Bristol, Rhode Island, and East Hartford, Connecticut. The 1860 Census lists her as owing $51,500 of real estate. Her son Edward, a physician, made his home with her after his divorce, c.1864.

Henry Howard Brownell (1820-1872), the second child of Lucia and Pardon Brownell, graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, studied law, and became a practicing lawyer in Connecticut for a short time, before deciding to concentrate on writing. He published his first volume, Poems, in 1847, but it was as a Civil War poet that he was best known. At his own request, he was allowed to accompany Admiral Farragut into battle, so that he could write about it firsthand. He was made an ensign and acted as Admiral Farragut's secretary. After the Civil War he accompanied Farragut on a European tour. His book, Lyrics of a Day, or Newspaper Poetry, by a Volunteer in Service, was well reviewed by Oliver Wendell Holmes in an article entitled Our Battle Laureate in the May 1865 issue of the Atlantic Monthly . Holmes continued to encourage his writing efforts. Henry H. Brownell published War Lyrics and Other Poems in 1866, and is one of the people attributed with writing the lyrics for the song John Brown's Body . He also wrote two popular histories for subscription publishers: The People's Book of Ancient and Modern History in 1851, and The Discoverers, Pioneers, and Settlers of North and South America in 1853. He developed cancer of the face, and underwent surgery in Boston, resulting in the removal of only part of the tumor. His last few years were painful. He made a trip to Florida with his brother Ned (Edward) in 1871-72 where they felt the warmer climate might make Henry more comfortable. At his death, the poet Thomas Bailey Adlrich eulogized him in a short poem, (“Henry Howard Brownell,” Atlantic Monthly , May 1873).

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