Edna Dow Cheney

Full Name: Ednah Dow Cheney
Birth/Death: 1824–1904

Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney was an American writer, reformer, and philanthropist, born on June 27, 1824, on Boston’s Beacon Hill to Sargent Smith Littledale and Ednah Parker Dow. She received her education in private schools in Boston and developed a lifelong interest in literature, art, and social reform. Early in her career, she served as secretary of the School of Design for Women from 1851 to 1854, reflecting her commitment to promoting educational opportunities for women.

On May 19, 1853, she married portrait artist Seth Wells Cheney. His declining health limited his artistic output, and after a winter trip abroad (1854–1855), he passed away in 1856. They had one daughter, Margaret Swan Cheney (1855–1882), who died of tuberculosis while a student at MIT. In her daughter’s memory, a reception room in the Women’s Chemistry Laboratory was named to honor her life.

Cheney’s social activism was extensive. She held leadership roles in the Freedmen's Aid Society, Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, New England Women's Club, and the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She lectured at the Concord School of Philosophy on art history and actively participated in the Margaret Fuller conversation class. Cheney visited Freedmen’s schools in the South in 1866, 1868, and 1869, and made several European trips. She also spoke before lyceums in the western United States in 1873, 1875, and 1876, advocating for education and social reform.

Her literary works include both fiction and biographical writings. Notable titles are Patience: A Series of Thirty Games with Cards (1870), Faithful to the Light and Other Tales (1871), Sally Williams, the Mountain Girl (1872), Memoir of Susan Dimock (1875), The Life of Louisa May Alcott (1888), and Reminiscences of Ednah Dow Cheney (1902). She also authored biographies of her husband Seth Wells Cheney and other notable figures in art and literature. Through her writing and civic involvement, Cheney left a lasting legacy as a pioneer for women’s education, social justice, and literary culture in 19th-century America.