Compiled from article on Wikipedia
Elizabeth Anne Chase was born in 1832 in Strong, Maine. Her mother died when she was an infant, and her father moved the family to Farmington, where she attended Farmington Academy.
Elizabeth Akers Allen collar, ca. 1870
Maine Historical Society
Her earliest poems are said to have been published when she was between 12 and 15 years old, under the pen name "Florence Percy". In 1855, using her pen name, she published her first book of poetry, Forest Buds from the Woods of Maine. She started contributing poems to the Atlantic Monthly in 1858. In 1866, she published her second collection, Poems, under the name of "Elizabeth Akers". All subsequent volumes were published under the name "Elizabeth Akers Allen".
For much of her career, Allen earned her living partly as a journalist. The success of her first book allowed her to travel in Europe in 1859–60. While in Europe she served as a correspondent for the Portland Transcript and the Boston Evening Gazette. In 1874, she moved to Portland, Maine, where she spent seven years as the literary editor of the Daily Advertiser. She was a member of the professional women's club Sorosis, which had many writer members.
References
- Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Anne-Chase-Akers-Allen
- Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 18.
- Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1908). Who's who in America. Marquis Who's Who.