// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Mary V. Tingley Lawrence? A law-rence to be reckoned with?
Mary V. Tingley Lawrence | |
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,_inscribed_upper_R_John_S._Sargent_1881.jpg) Portrait of Mrs. Lawrence, oil on canvas, by John Singer Sargent, 1881 | |
| Born | Mary Viola Tingley ca. 1840 Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | April 24, 1931 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
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| Spouse | James Henry Lawrence |
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Mary V. Tingley Lawrence (née Tingley; pen names, May and Ridinghood; ca. 1840 – 1931) was an American writer and customs inspector.[1] Born in Indiana, she moved to California at a young age, where she became widely known by her pen name, "Ridinghood," while working as a correspondent for The Union and other California and Nevada newspapers. Her journalistic work covered social matters and sketches. With Bret Harte, she compiled Outcroppings, a collection of poems by twenty early Californian writers.[2] Lawrence was also a founder and honorary president of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association and served for 30 years as a customs inspector at the Port of San Francisco.
Early life and education
[edit]Mary Viola Tingley was born in Indiana, ca. 1840,[3] and came to California in 1852.[4][5] Her father was Col. George B. Tingley,[1] one of California's pioneer state builders and statesmen.[6] Col. Tingley, a native of Ohio, was a lawyer. He removed to Indiana, and there served in the Legislature with Vice-President-elect Thomas A. Hendricks and Thomas J. Henley. Tingley served as an officer in the Mexican–American War; came across the plains to California in 1849 with Henley; was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate; was defeated for Congress in 1851. He died at San Francisco in 1862.[7]
Louise Clappe was Mary's teacher and friend.[8]
Career
[edit]Early in her career, Lawrence served as Assistant in Grammar Instruction and Primary at the Rincon Grammar School, a San Francisco public grammar school.[9]
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Starting with the pen name "May" and then switching to "Ridinghood", Lawrence was an early writer for The Sacramento Union.[10] It is as "Ridinghood," that Lawrence was best known. Using that pen name, she was a correspondent from San Francisco for The Sacramento Union,[4] writing a letter each week from San Francisco on social matters. The letters attracted significant attention, and the name "Ridinghood" became a household word among the families in the mining centers of California and Nevada. They also received favorable notice from the New-York Tribune and the Springfield Republican. Lawrence worked in many journalistic fields for The Daily Alta California , San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner , San Francisco Evening Bulletin, and The Argonaut.[10] She also wrote sketches for Overland Monthly , such as "A Summer With a Countess", relating to Theresa Yelverton or Lady Avonmore, "A Mountain Posy," "College Charlemagne", and others. She traveled in the western U.S. as a correspondent for different California journals. Amid all the temptations and inducements to write personals of a spicy or acrid nature, Lawrence took pleasure in thinking that she never wrote a line in her life that hurt someone.[1]
Her name in probably best known in connection with Outcroppings, a collection of the poems by early Californian writers. Lawrence was also the author of a novel.[1]
She was a Charter Member and the Honorary President of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association;[5] President Emeritus of the Ina Coolbrith Circle; and a member of Daughters of the American Revolution[3] and California State Teachers' Institute.[11]
For 30 years, Lawrence served as Customs Inspector of the Port of San Francisco,[5] her responsibility being Inspector for Ladies on the Pacific steamships.[12]
Personal life
[edit]She married Hon. Senator James Henry Lawrence (or Laurence),[1] who became a California State Senator.[3] The couple had one daughter, Constance Violet (born 1876).[12]
After an illness of several months,[5] Mary Lawrence died in San Francisco, April 24, 1931, age 91.[10][4][3]
Selected works
[edit]- Outcroppings : being selections of California verse (Bret Harte (ed.), 1866) (text), via Internet Archive
- A diplomat's helpmate : how Rose F. Foote, wife of the first U.S. Minister and envoy entraordinary to Korea, served her country in the Far East, 1918 (text), via Internet Archive
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Mighels, Ella Sterling (1893). The story of the files; a review of Californian writers and literature (Public domain ed.). p. 93. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
- ↑ California Historical Society (1926). California Historical Society Quarterly (Public domain ed.). California Historical Society. p. 411. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "Mary Viola Tingley Lawrence". The San Francisco Examiner. 26 April 1931. p. 18. Archived from the original on 8 July 2025. Retrieved 30 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 "Mrs. Lawrence, Ex-Capital Newspaperwoman, Dies". The Sacramento Bee. 25 April 1931. p. 13. Retrieved 15 May 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 "Viola Tingley Lawrence". Plumas Independent. 30 April 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 30 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Hunt, Rockwell Dennis (1932). "Mray Viola Tingley Lawrence". California and Californians. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 318. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
- ↑ Davis, Winfield J. (1890). An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California: Containing a History of Sacramento County from the Earliest Period of Its Occupancy to the Present Time, Together with Glimpses of Its Prospective Future ... Portraits of Some of Its Most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of Many of Its Pioneers and Also Prominent Citizens of Today (Public domain ed.). Lewis Publishing Company. p. 47. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ↑ "A Beautiful Volume". Oakland Tribune (Public domain ed.). 6 August 1922. p. 66. Archived from the original on 8 July 2025. Retrieved 30 January 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ The California Teacher: A Journal of School and Home Education and Official Organ of the Department of Public Instruction (Public domain ed.). California Educational Society. 1868. p. 129. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Mrs. Lawrence, Writer, Is Dead. One of The Union's Earliest Contributors Dies". The Sacramento Union. 26 April 1931. p. 2. Retrieved 15 May 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ California State Teachers' Institute (1861). Proceedings of the California State Teachers' Institute and Educational Convention ... (Public domain ed.). Department of Public Instruction. p. 28. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- 1 2 Muir, Minerva A. Carr (1916). History of Walker Family, 1775–1916 (Public domain ed.). Express Printing Company. pp. 40–41. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
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