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Margaret
Fuller Ossoli
American Authoress
1810-1850
Margaret Fuller Ossoli was born in the
year 1810. Her father, Timothy Fuller, gave
much personal attention to her education.
She proved to be a remarkable scholar and
when she was six years old she could read
Latin and at eight she read Shakespeare,
Cervantes, and Moliere extensively. Being
left alone quite often, she became rather
melancholy and reserved and was also given
to angry outbursts.
She studied at Groton, Massachusetts,
where her idiosyncrasy were a trial to her
teachers and friends. When she returned to
her home she began an extensive course of
studies, mastering the German language and
making a practice of reading the chief
German authors.
In 1840 she became editor of the "Dial",
a quarterly journal. Ralph Waldo Emerson was
one of her associates in the work. "Woman in
the Nineteenth Century", written by Miss
Fuller for this journal, was afterward
issued as a book.
In 1844 she began to work for the New
York "Tribune". Her work was pretty much
limited to reviews which she subsequently
issued as a book entitled "Papers on Art and
Literature".
Margaret soon made her home in Rome and
in 1847 she became the wife of a Roman
nobleman, the Marquis Giovanni Angelo Ossoli.
During two years after her marriage she,
Rome was stirred by political unrest. In
1848 there was a revolution and in 1849 the
city was besieged by France. During these
trying times she volunteered as a director
of one of the hospitals in the city of Rome.
In 1850, she returned to America,
accompanied by her husband and little son.
The voyage, however, had a tragic ending.
The ship was driven ashore on Fire Island
Beach. While the vessel was going to pieces,
Margaret sang little Angelo to sleep and her
husband calmed the passengers by prayer.
After twelve hours of suspense, some of the
passengers were saved, but Ossoli, wife, and
child perished.
Margaret Ossoli had a strong character
marked by individuality. Her struggle and
solitary habits made her less winsome than
some other writers, but her works form a
substantial contribution to American
literature.
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