Elizabeth Baker Bohan


Elizabeth Baker Bohan was a British-born American author, journalist, artist, and social reformer.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Claire Baker was born in Birmingham, England, August 18, 1849. Her parents were Joseph and Martha Baker. They came to the United States in 1854 and lived most of the time in Wisconsin.
She received her education in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin public schools. From her earliest youth, she practiced composition. At school, she not only wrote her own essays but many for her schoolmates.

Career

For a time, Bohan worked as a teacher, and resided in West Bend, Wisconsin. On September 2, 1872, in Milwaukee, she married Michael Bohan. He was then editor of the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Journal, and previously editor of the West Bend, Democrat. The couple lived in Milwaukee with their four children, Arthur Baker, Edmonde Russell, Martha Boddington, and Florence Claire. In 1894, Bohan removed to Los Angeles.
Bohan, a painter beyond that of local celebrity. Working with pencils, brushes, watercolor, and oils, she created floral still lifes, landscape paintings, portrait paintings, as well as black and white illustrations. She instructed several painters and musicians of Wisconsin.
Her enjoyment for writing increased as she became an adult. She wrote a great numbers of poems and a still greater number of prose sketches, but offered none for publication until within the late 1880s. Thereafter, a large numbers of her poems and sketches were published in papers and magazines throughout the U.S.
She wrote for the West Coast Magazine as a staff writer for at least five years, and occasionally for the Chicago Tribune, Simons' Magazine, Munsey's Magazine, Milwaukee Sentinel, The Youth's Companion, National New Thought Monthly, The Club Woman, and others. Her serial stories included "The Burro Girl", and "The Strength of the Weak".
Bohan was a lecturer to women's clubs on civic reforms, with a special interest in the reconstruction of the penal system. She worked for the establishment of municipal farms for petty offenders.

Personal life and death

Bohan was a member of the Southern California Press and the California Badger clubs. She favored woman suffrage and was a Progressive. Bohan died August 27, 1930.

Selected works

Attribution

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