Woman of the Century/Novella Jewell Trott

TROTT, Miss Novella Jewell, author and editor, born in Woolwich, Me., 16th November, 1846. She traces her ancestry back to the Puritan emigrant, Thomas Trott, who came from England to Dorchester, Mass., in 1635, and to Ralph Farnham, who, in the same year, settled in Andover, Mass. Benjamin Trott and Joshua Farnham, descendants of the above, both removed to Woolwich about 1750, and there founded families whose children, from generation to generation, have been noted for their intelligence, integrity and public spirit. The parents of Novella Trott were worthy representatives of those two old families. Her mother was a woman of superior mental qualities and remarkable strength of character, and her father was a man of marked mental ability and moral worth. NOVELLA JEWELL TROTT. The daughter soon outgrew the educational advantages of her native town, and, at the age of thirteen, entered the public schools of Bath, afterward taking a special course of study in the State Normal School in Farmingron Although she early showed decided literary tastes, she had intended to make teaching her profession. During a visit to Boston she was invited to take a position as proof-reader in a prominent publishing house. There she had her introduction to the work which she was afterwards to adopt as a profession. A sudden illness compelled her to give up her position and, upon her recovery, she resumed her original plans and taught successfully for several years The five following years were devoted to the care of her invalid mother, after which circumstances opened the way for her return to literary life. In 1881 she entered the publishing establishment of E. C. Allen, in Augusta, Me., where she soon worked her way to a position upon the editorial staff. She became sole editor of the "Practical Housekeeper" and "Daughters of America." During the past ten years she has performed all branches of editorial work, selecting, compiling, condensing, revising, writing from month to month editorial, critical and literary articles, reading a large number of manuscripts and conducting the extensive correspondence of her office. In her private life she is much admired, and she is a bright and entertaining conversationalist. She was appointed one of seven women of national reputation to represent the press department of the Queen Isabella Association in the World's Fair, in Chicago, in 1893.