Dorsey, Ella Loraine

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DORSEY, Ella Loraine

Born 2 March 1853, Washington, D.C.; died 1935, Washington, D.C.

Daughter of Lorenzo and Anna McKenney Dorsey

A descendant of old and illustrious Maryland colonists and, like her mother, a pioneer of light Catholic fiction, Ella Lorraine Dorsey showed great interest in both political and religious concerns, which continually surface in her writings. From early childhood she was inundated with political literature and history. All of her relatives supported the Confederacy except her only brother, who fought and died for the Union cause, and her father. Educated at Madame Burr's School and Visitation Convent in Georgetown, Dorsey began writing in 1871 as "Vanity Fair" for the Washington Critic and worked for 10 years on Washington newspapers. Later she was a special correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and for papers in Boston and in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1886 at the urging of Catholic magazine editors, Dorsey began writing Catholic children's fiction. Her first stories, "The Knickerbocker Ghost," "The Tsar's Horses," and "Back from the Frozen Pole," were published in Catholic periodicals such as Ave Maria and Catholic World but also in secular publications such as Harper's. They were praised for their accuracy of detail. During the Spanish-American War, Dorsey served as a volunteer assistant in the Hospital Corps for the Daughters of the American Revolution. The experience gained there resulted in several other pieces of edifying juvenile boys' fiction that became very popular.

Like her mother's melodramatic Catholic writings for adults, Dorsey's children's fiction is pro-Catholic, clever in plot manipulation, and accurate and fascinating in historical detail. In her work, conversion to Christianity is always a great joy. Dorsey demonstrated her historical acumen and moral concern in the societies to which she belonged. She was on the board for Trinity College, the first Catholic college for the higher education of women in America, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Marquette League, the Pocahontas Memorial Association, corresponding secretary of the Club of Colonial Dames, and an honorary member of the Association of Spanish-American War Nurses.

Many of her writings, not meant only for children, grew out of these affiliations. "The Forbidden Dance," published in the Messenger in 1908, deals with the lack of understanding of the Native American culture by the U.S. government in banning the Arapaho's celebration of the spring sun because the dance contained ferocious tests of courage and endurance. The account is beautifully explicit and describes movingly "the long ceremony, of praise and prayer to that Lord of the white men and the Native American whom the Arapaho calls The Man Above."

Other articles, "Women in the Patent Office," "Women in the Pension Office," and "Women in the Land Office," recognize the contributions of usually unacclaimed women who work in governmental offices. All of Dorsey's work is now out of print and difficult to find.

Other Works:

Midshipman Bob (1887). Jet, the War-Mule (1894). The Taming of Polly (1897). Pickle and Pepper (1898). Pocahontas (1906). A Biographical Sketch of James Maccubbin, One of the Original Proprietors (1909). The Census and Its Lesson (1924). The Children of Avalon, n.d. Da-h-pi-ki, n.d. The Jose-Maria, n.d. Saxty's Angel, n.d. The Two Tramps, n.d.