Emily Chubbuck Judson (1817–1854) was a nationally known writer of the mid-nineteenth century. With pieces appearing alongside those by Edgar Allan Poe and James Fenimore Cooper, she walked in literary company second to none. She wrote children’s books, essays, poetry and fictional stories. During her fascinating life, she was a prolific letter writer.
In 1845, she met Adoniram Judson and they married in 1846. His pioneering work in Burma (Myanmar) made him famous as a Baptist missionary. After his death in 1850, Emily returned to the States in 1851 and spent the last years of her life writing and publishing a volume of poetry, a volume of missionary stories, and a memoir of her sisters who had died as young women. She also worked with Dr. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, on a definitive biography of Adoniram Judson.
Volume 6 covers the last twenty months of Emily Chubbuck Judson’s life. She is increasingly impaired by the illness that was to claim her life on June 2, 1854. Most of the letters in this volume are from the Judson children—Abby Ann, Adoniram “Addy,” Elnathan “Elly,” Henry, and Edward, as well as George Dana Boardman, the son of George and Sarah Boardman (who became the second “Mrs. Judson”). They all addressed Emily as “Mamma.”
An appendix on the Judson children encompasses the time after Emily’s death through 1914.
The seven-volume series of The Life and Letters of Emily Chubbuck Judson (Fanny Forester) is published in cooperation with the American Baptist Historical Society.