Mrs. Sarah Tittle Bolton, author of _Paddle Your Own Canoe_, was born
at Newport, Kentucky, in 1820. When she was about three years old, her
father removed to Indiana, settling first in Jennings county, but
later moving on to Madison. When a young woman, she contributed poems
to the Madison newspaper which attracted the editor, Nathaniel Bolton,
so strongly that he married the author. They moved to Indianapolis,
and Mrs. Bolton soon gained a wide reputation as a poet. Her ode sung
at the laying of the corner-stone of the Masonic Temple, in 1850, won
her a loving cup from the Masons of Hoosierdom. Two years later her
poem in honor of the hero of Hungary, Louis Kossuth, increased her
fame. In 1855 Mr. Bolton was appointed consul to Geneva, Switzerland,
and his wife accompanied him to his post. They remained in Switzerland
for three years, during which time Mrs. Bolton acted as correspondent
for the Cincinnati _Commercial_. In 1858 she and her husband returned
to Indianapolis, in which city he died some months later. Her _Poems_
(New York, 1856) brought her newspaper and periodical verse together;
and a complete collection, with a notice of her life, was published at
Indianapolis in 1886. Mrs. Bolton was Indiana's foremost female singer
for many years. She died at Indianapolis in 1893. Of her many poems
_Paddle Your Own Canoe_ is the best known, although _Left on the
Battlefield_ is admired by many of her readers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _The Poets and Poetry of the West_, by W. T.
Coggeshall (Columbus, 1860); _The Hoosiers_, by Meredith Nicholson
(New York, 1900).