Minna Irving

Minna Irving
Minna Irving, from an 1889 publication
Born
Minnie Odell

(1864-05-17)May 17, 1864
Tarrytown, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 4, 1940(1940-07-04) (aged 76)
Wyckoff, New Jersey, U.S.
Other namesMinna Michener, Aurelia Maxwell Michener, Mrs. Irving Hasbrouck De Lamater
OccupationWriter

Minna Irving (May 17, 1864 – July 4, 1940), born Minnie Odell, was an American writer and poet based in Tarrytown, New York. She wrote patriotic poetry through two wars, and a science fiction story published in 1929.

Early life

Minnie Odell was born in Tarrytown, the daughter of William Roamer Odell and Mary Ann Van Tassel Odell. She began writing poetry in childhood, and studied music.[1]

Career

Irving wrote dozens of poems that were published in popular and literary magazines including Century,[1] Woman's Home Companion,[1] The Smart Set, Leslie's Weekly,[2] Munsey's, and Ainslee's.[3] She also published a collection of poetry, Songs of a Haunted Heart (1888). She wrote Christmas-themed poems,[4][5] and during the Spanish–American War and World War I, she published poems about the war efforts. "I love camps and soldier life. Indeed I am more interested in the rough side of life," she explained in 1902. "I know many sea captains and naval men and I learn things from them. I love the sea."[1]

Some of Irving's poems appeared in the Journal of Education,[6][7][8] and The Phrenological Journal.[9] and she wrote an essay about recreational driving for Suburban Life.[10]

Irving also wrote stories and poems with a supernatural or horror aspect,[11] and at least one science fiction story, "The Moon Woman" (1929).[12] Pulp magazines where her work appeared included Weird Tales, Amazing Stories,[13] All-Story Magazine, and Argosy. Several of her poems appeared in The Haunted Hour (1920), an anthology of spooky poems, many of them by women, compiled by Margaret Widdemer.[14]

Irving wrote verses that appeared on the memorial for Quentin Roosevelt in France. In 1929, she was one of ten American poets awarded a cash prize, as finalists in a contest to write a new national anthem.[15][16]

Irving's errors caught

A 1901 Massachusetts newspaper took Irving to task for some impossibilities in her description of a British yacht.[17] In 1905, an Oregon newspaper published a mocking poem about Irving, after she mis-rhymed "Willamette" and "beset" in a published verse.[18] In 1915, a Honolulu paper caught her in another error, when it explained that pineapples do not grow on pine trees, as she suggested in a poem.[19]

Personal life

Irving was portrayed as litigious and attention-seeking in media accounts.[20] "Don't mention the name of Minna Irving to me again," cautioned the editor of the Tarrytown Argus in 1894.[21] "If there is anything for which Minna's soul always yearns, it is a sensation," reported a newspaper story in 1888 and 1889. "She generally manages to scare up a sensation of some kind about twice a year."[22][23] In 1917, she wrote a first-person poem, in which the speaker wants to kiss Gladys, a woman who was wearing gardening overalls and a Panama hat, but instead kisses Gladys's brother, in a case of mistaken identity.[24]

Irving was engaged to Palmer B. Wells in 1885,[25] but later sued him for harassing and defaming her,[26] and he served a jail sentence when the conflict escalated.[27] She was briefly married Irving Hasbrouck De Lamater in 1890,[28] before they separated and eventually divorced.[29][30] She married her second husband, Harry H. Michener, in 1911.[31] She died in 1940, at the age of 76, at a sanitarium in Wyckoff, New Jersey.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Crowell, Bertha C. (1902-10-19). "Miss Minna Irving". The Kansas City Star. p. 23. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Minna Irving, "King Gasoline," Leslie's Weekly, August 24, 1916". Energy History, Yale University. Archived from the original on 2025-06-21. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  3. ^ "Minna Irving". The General Fiction Magazine Index. Archived from the original on 2025-07-19. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  4. ^ Irving, Minna (1929-12-19). "The Christmas Angel and Christmas Land". Blue Valley Journal. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Irving, Minna (1922-12-14). "Christmas Land and The Nativity". Windsor Beacon. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Irving, Minna (August 1923). "Our Lost Leader". Journal of Education. 98 (6): 147–147. doi:10.1177/002205742309800605. ISSN 0022-0574.
  7. ^ Irving, Minna (July 1920). "To America". Journal of Education. 92 (1): 12–12. doi:10.1177/002205742009200107. ISSN 0022-0574.
  8. ^ Irving, Minna (June 1924). "Legend of the Moonflower". Journal of Education. 99 (23): 628–628. doi:10.1177/002205742409902308. ISSN 0022-0574.
  9. ^ Irving, Minna. "The Winter Brook" The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health 107, no. 1 (1899): 23.
  10. ^ Irving, Minna. "My lady of the car: Motoring as a recreation for women—A personal experience and a bit of romance." Suburban Life 9, no. 5 (1909): 233-234.
  11. ^ "'The Witch of Neperan' Now on Display at the Yonkers Museum". The Herald Statesman. 1925-02-18. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Donawerth, Jane L. "Science Fiction by Women in the Early Pulps, 1926-1930" in Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference, Carol A. Kolmerten and Jane Donawerth, eds. (Syracuse University Press 1994): 137.
  13. ^ Irving, Minna (November 1929). "The Moon Woman: A Tale of the Future". Amazing Stories. 4 (8): 746–754 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ Widdemer, Margaret. The Haunted Hour: An Anthology (1920). Harcourt, Brace and Howe. ISBN 978-1-4219-6903-9.
  15. ^ "Winners in Song Contest are Named; Ten American Poets Are Awarded $1000". The Houston Chronicle. 1929-01-13. p. 36. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Three Magazine Poets Among Ten Anthem Prize Winners". Springfield Evening Union. 1929-01-14. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Minna Irving's Blunders". The Evening Herald. 1901-08-28. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Love, Robertus (1905-06-28). "Wil-LAM-ette". The Oregonian. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Poet Believes Fruit is Found 'High in Pines'". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1915-11-13. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "She Can't Write Poetry; Dogs Howl Under Miss Minna Irving's Window". New York Herald. 1891-05-30. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Minna Irving Upholds History; Her Great-great-grandfather Not a Revolutionary Soldier, She Says". New York Herald. 1894-10-09. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Irving Vs. Wells; A Poetess and Her Suit Against a Former Friend". The Montana Record-Herald. 1888-12-27. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Irving vs. Wells; A Poetess and Her Suit Against a Former Friend". The Victoria Daily Times. 1889-05-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Minna and Her Little Mistake". Modesto Morning Herald. 1917-07-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Personalisms". The Yonkers Gazette. 1885-10-31. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "A Poet of Passion's Suit; The Sweet Singer of Sleepy Hollow Out With Mr. Wells". New York Herald. 1888-12-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Minna Irving, the Poetess; Married Over Again, Because the First Marriage was on Friday". The Savannah Morning News. 1890-07-14. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Minna Irving, the Poetess; Married Over Again, Because the First Marriage was on Friday". The Savannah Morning News. 1890-07-14. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Minna Wants a Divorce". The Yonkers Gazette. 1890-10-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Minna Irving Tires of Marriage". Buffalo Courier Express. 1892-02-20. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "Obituary: Mrs. Harry Michener". The News. 1940-07-24. p. 32. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ "Minna Irving Dead; Tarrytown Author". The Herald Statesman. 1940-07-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-10-10 – via Newspapers.com.
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