Florence McLandburgh
Florence McLandburgh (April 22, 1850 – June 3, 1934) was an American writer of fiction and poetry, sometimes using the pseudonym McLandburgh Wilson.
Also recorded as McLandburgh Wilson
Florence McLandburgh
- Name
- Florence McLandburgh
- Born
- April 22, 1850
- Birthplace
- Chillicothe, Ohio, U.S.
- Died
- June 3, 1934 (aged 84)
- Place of death
- Akron, Ohio, U.S.
- Occupation
- Writer
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
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wikidata · Q31130032 · wikipedia · Florence McLandburgh
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Florence McLandburgh • Born — April 22, 1850 • Birthplace — Chillicothe, Ohio, U.S. • Died — June 3, 1934 (aged 84) • Place of death — Akron, Ohio, U.S. • Other Names — McLandburgh Wilson • Occupation — Writer
Early life and education
Early life and education
McLandburgh was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and lived in Chicago after 1863, the daughter of Henry McLandburgh and Susan Reynolds McLandburgh. Her older brother John was also a writer. She graduated from Dearborn Female Seminary in 1868.
Career
Career
McLandburgh's 1873 short story "The Automaton-Ear" is considered an early example of science fiction by an American woman, as it concerns an ear trumpet that can replay every sound ever made. Her 1876 collection of stories includes other tales with science fiction themes. One reviewer said the collection exhibited McLandburgh's "imaginative power", but that several of the stories were "too fanciful." Poor health prevented McLandburgh from further fiction writing. Later in life she wrote poetry, often with humorous, patriotic or military themes, published in newspapers and magazines under the pseudonym "McLandburgh Wilson." She is credited with writing the lines "The optimist sees the doughnut, but the pessimist sees the hole."
Personal life
Personal life
McLandburgh died in 1934, at the age of 83, in Akron, Ohio. Her gravestone in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago is shaped like a book resting on a pillow.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Chillicothe.
Birth place
Akron.
Death place
Publications
• "Possessed" (1871, later revised and retitled "The Feverfew") • "Boydell: A Sketch" (1871) • "The Christmas Tale of Paint Valley" (1873) • "The Automaton-Ear" (1873) • The Automaton Ear, and other sketches (1876) • "Memorial Day" (1905, poem) • "Back to the Land (1906, poem) • "A Tale of Dead Love" (1906, poem) • "Motherhood's Chant" (1914, poem) • "Let the Women Be Heard" • "The March of Woman Suffrage" • The Little Flag on Main Street (1917, collected poems) • "Rheims Cathedral" (1918, poem) • "Hot Weather Poem" (1918, poem)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Florence McLandburgh, revision 1373345304 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sims, Michael. Frankenstein Dreams: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Science Fiction. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 99–101. 2017-09-05. 978-1-63286-041-5.
- 2.1860 United States federal census, via Ancestry.
- 3.Wilson, James Grant. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. D. Appleton. 138. 1888.
- 4.Annual catalogue of the Dearborn Female Seminary, Chicago, for the academic year 1867-68; via Ancestry.
- 5.Selzer, Adam. Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols, and Secrets. University of Illinois Press. 250–251. 2022-08-09. 978-0-252-05342-9.
- 6.Ashley, Michael. The Feminine Future: Early Science Fiction by Women Writers. Courier Dover Publications. 24. 2015-03-18. 978-0-486-79023-7.
- 7.SFE: McLandburgh, Florence. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- 8.Scholl, Lesa. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women's Writing. Springer Nature. 389. 2022-12-15. 978-3-030-78318-1.
- 9.Minor Book Notices. The Literary World: A Monthly Review of Current Literature. 7. 5. June 1876.
- 10.Van de Grift, Josephine. Poor Health Fails to Check Ambitions of Girl Writer. The Akron Beacon Journal. 4. 1920-07-24.
- 11.Roberts, Adam. Classic Science Fiction Stories. Pan Macmillan. 2022-05-12. 978-1-5290-6908-2.
- 12.Broadhurst, Jean. Verse for patriots, to encourage good citizenship. Philadelphia London : J.B. Lippincott Company. 1919.
- 13.Wienen, Mark W. Van. Rendezvous with Death: American Poems of the Great War. University of Illinois Press. 2002. 978-0-252-07059-4.
- 14.Items Interesting to the Feminine Sex. The Champaign County News. 9. 1907-05-25.
- 15.McLandburgh Wilson. Oxford Reference. 10.1093/acref/9780191843730.013.q-oro-ed5-00016554.
- 16.McLandburgh, Florence. Boydell: A Sketch. The Lakeside Monthly. 6. 270–277. September 1871.
- 17.McLandburgh, Florence. “The Christmas Tale of Paint Valley.” Appleton's 10 (1873): 806-11.
- 18.McLandburgh, Florence. "The Automaton Ear" Scribner's Monthly (May 1873).
- 19.McLandburgh, Florence. The automaton ear, and other sketches (Chicago: Jansen, McClurg and Co., 1876).
- 20.Wilson, Mclandburgh. Memorial Day. The Atlantic. 1905-05-01. 2151-9463.
- 21.Wilson, McLandburgh. Back to the Land. The Brandon Union. 2. 1906-12-28.
- 22.Wilson, McLandburgh. A Tale of Dead Love. Wilkes-Barre Times. 5. 1906-08-30.
- 23.Wilson, McLandburgh. The March of Woman Suffrage. Exhibit, "Women in Politics", University of Montana Library.
- 24.The Little Flag on Main Street. Birmingham Post-Herald. 32. 1918-06-16.
- 25.Rheims Cathedral. The Morning Union. 8. 1918-03-28.
- 26.Have Your Neighbors Gone?. The Wichita Eagle. 6. 1918-07-08.
- 27.Obituary for Florence McLandbnrgh. The Akron Beacon Journal. 23. 1934-06-04.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 September 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Florence Earle CoatesAuthor
- Florence HaywardAuthor
- Florence HoweAuthor
- Florence May WrightAuthor
- Florence Merriam BaileyAuthor
- Florence Newman TrefethenAuthor
- Florence NoivilleAuthor
- Florence of WorcesterAuthor
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