The passion of Abby Hemenway

""Not a suitable work for a woman". That is what Abby Hemenway was told by male historians skeptical of her ability to compile the history of every town in the state of Vermont. She proved them wrong.".

"Abby Maria Hemenway's life and work offer a unique portrait of a 19th-century literary woman. Hemenway conceived and edited the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, a 5-volume compendium of the state's local history published between 1860 and 1892, a monumental work still in constant use today by historians and genealogists. Hemenway never married, and at the age of 36 she formally converted and entered the Catholic Church, which anchored her life for the bulk of her professional career."--BOOK JACKET.