Natalie Sumner Lincoln

Natalie Sumner Lincoln
BornOctober 4, 1881 Edit this on Wikidata
Washington, D.C. Edit this on Wikidata
DiedAugust 31, 1935 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 53)
Washington, D.C. Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationCrime fiction writer, novelist, writer Edit this on Wikidata
Parent(s)
FamilyG. Gould Lincoln Edit this on Wikidata

Natalie Sumner Lincoln (October 4, 1881 – August 31, 1935) was an American novelist who wrote mystery and crime novels mostly set in her native Washington, D.C.

Natalie Sumner Lincoln was born on October 4, 1881, in Washington, D.C.[1] She was the daughter of Dr. Nathan Smith Lincoln, Civil War physician and White House physician to US President James A. Garfield, and Jeanie Gould, novelist and children's author.[2] Her brother was political reporter George Gould Lincoln. She was educated at Laura A. Flint's Private School in Washington.[3]

Lincoln was society editor for the Washington Herald from 1912 to 1914. She was editor of the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine from April 1915 until her death.[3][4]

Lincoln wrote 22 novels, all but one set in Washington, D.C. About half of them featured either Inspector Mitchell or Detective Ferguson of the Washington, DC police.[3] Two of her novels were adapted as silent films: The Man Inside (1916)[5] and Black Shadows (1920), the latter based on her novel The Official Chaperon.[6] She also contributed short stories to a number of magazines, including Smith's Magazine, McCall's, All Story, and Detective Story Magazine.[3]

She made philatelist headlines in 1930 when she discovered one of her father's letters with a rare postmaster provisional stamp from Baltimore postmaster James M. Buchanan, which she sold for $10,000.[3]

Natalie Sumner Lincoln died at her Hawthorne Street home in Washington, D.C., on August 31, 1935.[3]

Bibliography

A white woman with dark hair in an updo, wearing a light-colored lacy gown with a square neckline
Natalie S. Lincoln, from a 1918 publication

Inspector Mitchell

Detective Ferguson

Other novels

References

  1. ^ Burke, William Jeremiah; Howe, Will David (1967). American authors and books, 1640 to the present day. New York: Crown Publishers. p. 436.
  2. ^ Simpkins, Dora (March 1918). "Natalie S. Lincoln: Writer of Masterly Detective Stories". Book News Monthly. 36 (7): 233– via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "NATALIE S: LINCOLN, AUTHOR, IS DEAD". New York Times. September 1, 1935. p. 18.
  4. ^ "LINCOLN, Natalie Sumner." Marquis Who Was Who in America 1607–1984, 1st edition, 2009. Credo Reference.
  5. ^ Women writers, from page to screen. New York: Garland Pub. 1990. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-8240-8529-2.
  6. ^ Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1931). Catalogue of the stories and plays owned by Fox Film Corporation. MBRS Library of Congress. Times-Mirror Press. p. 114.