MARY ANTIN
Mary Antin was born on June 13, 1881, in Polotzk, Russia, the daughter of Israel
and Esther Weltman Antin. Her father emigrated to the United States in 1891, and
three years later the mother followed with the four children, arriving in Boston
on the Polynesia on May 8, 1894. The Antin family eventually settled on
Arlington Street in Chelsea, where Mary and the younger siblings started to go
to public school; her older sister had to work as a seamstress. Mary Antin's
teacher brought about her first published work, the composition "Snow," in the
journal Primary Education.
Shortly after the transatlantic voyage, Mary wrote a long and detailed account
of it in Yiddish for her uncle. Later, the philanthropist Hattie Hecht
introduced Antin to Philip Cowen and Israel Zangwill, and the result was the
publication of an English adaptation of the letter in the American Hebrew. In
1899, it appeared as a book that misspelled the name of her hometown, From
Plotzk to Boston, with a glowing introduction by Zangwill. The essayist
Josephine Lazarus?Emma Lazarus' sister?reviewed the volume for the Critic and
became friends with Antin, who had been admitted to the prestigious Boston Latin
School for girls. The family now lived in the Dover Street slum, and Mary
associated with the South End Settlement House of Edward Everett Hale. She sat
as a model for his daughter Ellen Day Hale, and became a member of the Natural
History Club. There she met Amadeus William Grabau (1870-1946), who was
finishing his doctoral work in geology and paleontology at Harvard. They were
married in Boston on October 5, 1901, and soon took up residence in New York,
where Grabau became a professor at Columbia University. Antin never finished
Latin School, and therefore could only take a few college courses as a special
student. Their dauther, Josephine Esther Grabau, Antin's only child, was born on
November 21, 1907. Antin publshed short stories essays, and her books The
Promised Land (1912) and They Who Knock at Our Gates (1914), which together sold
more than one hundred thousand copies. After some successful years as a writer
and Progressive lecturer, Antin suffered a nervous breakdown, and she and Grabau
separated. She lived in pooer circumstances in later years, publishing little,
and died on May 15, 1949.
Mary Antin was born on June 13, 1881, in Polotzk, Russia, the daughter of Israel
and Esther Weltman Antin. Her father emigrated to the United States in 1891, and
three years later the mother followed with the four children, arriving in Boston
on the Polynesia on May 8, 1894. The Antin family eventually settled on
Arlington Street in Chelsea, where Mary and the younger siblings started to go
to public school; her older sister had to work as a seamstress. Mary Antin's
teacher brought about her first published work, the composition "Snow," in the
journal Primary Education.
Shortly after the transatlantic voyage, Mary wrote a long and detailed account
of it in Yiddish for her uncle. Later, the philanthropist Hattie Hecht
introduced Antin to Philip Cowen and Israel Zangwill, and the result was the
publication of an English adaptation of the letter in the American Hebrew. In
1899, it appeared as a book that misspelled the name of her hometown, From
Plotzk to Boston, with a glowing introduction by Zangwill. The essayist
Josephine Lazarus?Emma Lazarus' sister?reviewed the volume for the Critic and
became friends with Antin, who had been admitted to the prestigious Boston Latin
School for girls. The family now lived in the Dover Street slum, and Mary
associated with the South End Settlement House of Edward Everett Hale. She sat
as a model for his daughter Ellen Day Hale, and became a member of the Natural
History Club. There she met Amadeus William Grabau (1870-1946), who was
finishing his doctoral work in geology and paleontology at Harvard. They were
married in Boston on October 5, 1901, and soon took up residence in New York,
where Grabau became a professor at Columbia University. Antin never finished
Latin School, and therefore could only take a few college courses as a special
student. Their dauther, Josephine Esther Grabau, Antin's only child, was born on
November 21, 1907. Antin publshed short stories essays, and her books The
Promised Land (1912) and They Who Knock at Our Gates (1914), which together sold
more than one hundred thousand copies. After some successful years as a writer
and Progressive lecturer, Antin suffered a nervous breakdown, and she and Grabau
separated. She lived in pooer circumstances in later years, publishing little,
and died on May 15, 1949.