Laura V. De Valin (1843-1913)
Laura V. De Valin was born in 1843 in Baltimore. She attended public schools and graduated from Eastern Female High School at the age of 19. She then attended the Maryland College for Women at Lutherville, starting her teaching career while still a student. Serving briefly in grammar schools, she spent the rest of her decades-long career as an English teacher at Eastern High School, where she was also Vice-Principal for the last ten years before retirement. Her students included fellow Club member and poet Lizette Woodworth Reese as well as social work pioneer Mary Richmond, who was so inspired by her that she formed the De Valin Literature Club in her honor. She was a member of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore from around 1899-1904, where she wrote and presented articles on psychology, religion, and history, as well as her own poems. She also copyrighted several plays; unfortunately, the manuscripts have subsequently been lost. She died in 1913.
Sources
Heyl, Edgar G. “Bibliographical Notes: Plays by Marylanders, 1870-1916.” Maryland Historical Magazine 67 (1972): 80.
A Selection from the Russell Sage Foundation. Dubuque, IA: Brown Reprints, 1971.
Ruihley, Glenn Richard. An Anthology of Great U.S. Women Poets, 1850-1900. Mosaic Foundation, 1997.