Author: Warren, Mercy
Biography:
WARREN, Mercy, formerly OTIS (1728-1814: ANBO)
She is known to reference sources as Mercy Otis Warren but when she put her name to her title-pages it was as Mrs. M. Warren or Mrs. Mercy Warren, and the "Address" to Americans at the start of her magnum opus is signed "Mercy Warren." As an activist and enabler in patriot circles before and during the Revolution, she used her literary talent to spread a political message. Afterwards she wrote a three-volume History of . . . the American Revolution (1805), citing her credentials as a uniquely well connected first-hand witness. She was born in Barnstable MA, the daughter of Mary (Allyne) Otis and Col. James Otis, a farmer and militia officer. Her family encouraged her desire for learning by allowing her to join her brothers in some of their lessons. In 1754 she married James Warren (1726-1808), who was also deeply involved in republican politics and served as Paymaster General of the Continental Army under Washington in 1775-6. They had five sons together and lived for the rest of their lives in Plymouth MA. Mercy Warren was the anonymous author of several plays, both verse tragedies and prose farces, attacking members of the British colonial administration. The collection of Poems (1790), which she published with her name on the title-page for the first time, includes two tragedies not separately issued in her lifetime. Her major work, the History of 1805, is still cited as a valuable primary resource. She died in Plymouth six years after her husband; both are buried in the family plot on Burial Hill. ("Warren, Mercy Otis" and "Warren, James" ANBO 23 Dec. 2020) HJ
Other Names:
- Mrs. M. Warren