Heredity and environment conspired to make Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Ward a woman of letters. Her father, the Rev. Austin Phelps, was
pastor of the Pine Street Congregational church of Boston at the time
of her birth, August 31, 1844. In 1848 he became a professor in the
theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, and thus his daughter
Elizabeth grew up among a circle of thinkers and writers. She received
most of her education from her father, but also attended the private
school at Andover and the seminary of Mrs. Prof. Edwards, where she
took a course of study equal to that of the men’s colleges of to-day.
At the age of nineteen she left school and engaged in mission work
at Abbott Village and Factory Settlement, a short distance from her
home. It was here she began an acquaintance with the lives and needs
of working people, which resulted in books such as “Hedged In” and
“Jack, the Fisherman.” Her first story was published in the Youth’s
Companion when she was only thirteen years old. In 1864 she published
“A Sacrifice Consumed,” in Harper’s Magazine, which earned her right to
the title “author.” The book which has given her greatest fame, “The
Gates Ajar,” was begun in 1862 and was published in 1868. Nearly one
hundred thousand copies were sold in the United States, and more than
that number in Great Britain. It was also translated into a number of
foreign languages. Probably Mrs. Ward has written more books worth
while than any other woman writer of her time. In 1888 Miss Phelps was
married to Herbert D. Ward, and has co-operated with him in writing
several romances.