By Nancy J. Farrier
Have you ever gone through mementos from your childhood and discovered something precious that you’d forgotten about? I have and the memories resurrected are so fun, but the memento is usually just for me and not worth sharing to the world. That is not the case for Daisy Ashford, an extraordinary author.
Have you ever gone through mementos from your childhood and discovered something precious that you’d forgotten about? I have and the memories resurrected are so fun, but the memento is usually just for me and not worth sharing to the world. That is not the case for Daisy Ashford, an extraordinary author.
Daisy Ashford Photo Wikimedia Commons |
At nine years of age, Daisy wrote a novella, The Young Visitors, describing Victorian life as seen by a child in the nursery. Her mother tucked the story away and in her teen years, Daisy gave up writing. Her family moved several times and WWI caused much strife for the country.
Daisy Ashford 1919 George Grantham Bain Collection |
J.M. Barrier National Media Museum UK |
Daisy was very excited at the thought of being a published author. Her book became an success, although there was some confusion about who authored the story. Many people believed J. M. Barrie to have penned the book because of his forward. At one point, Swinnerton was chased down the street with the person shouting, “Did he or did she?”
The year after her book was published, Daisy married and became known as
Margaret Mary Julia Devlin. I do not know if Daisy was a nickname from childhood or not. I wonder if this was an endearment used by her parents that stuck through childhood.
The Young Visitors By Daisy Ashford |
First page, The Young Visitors Project Gutenberg |
I love this story of a young girl being encouraged to write a story and then the later publication. The work is available through Project Gutenberg. I do believe I would enjoy reading her story. Have you ever heard of Daisy or her book? Did you write a book at that age? Such an accomplishment.
Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.
I love it when parents save keepsakes like that, that you can run across as an adult. My mom kept a couple of our childhood toys, our "baby" books with only a couple of entries, and that's about it. I tried to do a little better, but still didn't keep much. One blessing I had as an adult was a former teacher giving me some papers I had written when in her class. I was amazed that she did that as she had 20 years of more worth of students. It was humbling to know she saw something in me; I wish I had contacted her so we could have talked about that. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteConnie, how fun that your teacher saved your papers. That’s amazing. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteThis is very interesting. I love finding old treasures. I have not heard of Daisy. Thank you for sharing about her.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melissa. I love those old treasures too. Thanks for commenting.
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