Edith Willis Linn

Edith Willis Linn Forbes (February 19, 1865 - October 1, 1945) was an American poet and writer. Edith Willis was born in New York City, February 19, 1865. She was a daughter of Dr. Frederic L. H. Willis, who was a member of the family of N. P. Willis, and who formerly practiced medicine in New York. Her mother was Love M. Willis, who was well known some years ago as a writer of juvenile stories. Both parents were inclined to literature, and the daughter inherited the literary inclination. When Forbes was six years old, the family went to Glenora, New York on Seneca Lake, for the summers, and to Boston, Massachusetts, for the winters. In Boston, she was educated in private schools until she was eighteen years old, after which her education was conducted by private tutors. Since the age of eleven, she preserved all her compositions, and by 1893, the number was nearly 400. She wrote very little in prose, a few short stories descriptive of nature. Forbes was proficient in French, German and English literature and music. She contributed to The Christian Register, the Cottage Hearth, the Christian Union, the Boston Transcript, Godey's Lady's Book, Peterson's Magazine, the Kew Moon, the Century, and other prominent periodicals. She published a volume of Poems (Buffalo, New York, 1891). In 1920, she established the Rochester Poetry Society, and served as president. She also affiliated with the Women's Education and Industrial Union, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Door of Hope. In 1886, she married Dr. Samuel H. Linn who served at the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia as the official dentist. They had two sons. She traveled in Europe and through the United States after this marriage. Her second husband, George Mather Forbes was a faculty member of the University of Rochester. Forbes made her home in Rochester, New York. She died in Starkey, New York, October 1, 1945.