Author: Woodworth, Samuel
Biography:
WOODWORTH, Samuel (1785-1842: ANBO), pseudonyms Selim, Sampfilius Philoerin
Most of the biographical information about Woodworth is derived from the "Biographical Sketch" written by his publishers and attached to his 1818 collection, supplemented by a memoir by George P. Morris in the posthumous Poetical Works (1861) edited by Woodworth's son. He was born in Scituate MA. His parents Abigail (Bryant) and Benjamin Woodworth were farmers who could not give him much education but his early verses attracted the attention of a local clergyman who tutored him and prepared him for college. Poverty held him back and he was instead apprenticed to a printer and newspaper editor in Boston. After trying Boston, New Haven, and Baltimore, Woodworth settled in New York in 1809. In 1810 he married Lydia Reeder; the couple had ten children. Highlights of his busy career in journalism were a weekly called The War, covering the War of 1812; The Ladies' Literary Cabinet (1819); Woodworth's Literary Casket (1821); and the New York Mirror, co-founded with George P. Morris. He also published a novel, many popular songs, and some occasional poetry as well as his two collections. But he was most successful as a playwright, with eight plays produced on the New York stage between 1822 and 1833, the most endurable being The Forest Rose, or, American Farmers. His publishers in 1818 had cited financial distress as a motive for publication. Woodworth's difficulties became acute in his final years when first eye problems and then a stroke in 1837 left him incapacitated. He died in New York, with newspaper obituaries throughout the country lamenting the neglect of a native poet and the loss of the author of the song "The Old Oaken Bucket." (ANBO 9 Mar. 2021; ancestry.com 9 Mar. 2021; Appleton) HJ