Editing Delia Bacon (section)

==Biography==
Bacon was born in a frontier [[log cabin]] in [[Tallmadge, Ohio|Tallmadge]], Ohio, the youngest daughter of  [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]] [[David Bacon (missionary)|David Bacon]], who in pursuit of a vision, had abandoned [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] for the wilds of Ohio. The venture quickly collapsed, and the family returned to [[New England]], where her father died soon after. The impoverished state of their finances permitted only her elder brother [[Leonard Bacon|Leonard]] to receive a tertiary education, at [[Yale]], while her own formal education ended when she was fourteen.<ref>James Shapiro, ''Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?,'' faber and faber, 2010,p.93</ref> She became a teacher in schools in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, and then, until about 1852, became a distinguished professional lecturer, conducting, in various cities in the eastern United States, classes for women in history and literature by methods she devised. At age 20, in 1831, she published her first book, ''Tales of the Puritans'' anonymously, consisting of three long stories on colonial life. In 1832, she beat [[Edgar Allan Poe]] to win a short-story contest sponsored by the Philadelphia ''Saturday Courier''.<ref>Shapiro, 2010,94</ref>

In 1836, Bacon moved to New York, and became an avid theatre-goer. She met the leading Shakespearean actress [[Ellen Tree]] soon after, and persuaded her to take the lead role in a play she was writing, partly in [[blank verse]], entitled ''The Bride of Fort Edward'', based on her award-winning story, ''Love's Martyr,'' about [[Jane M'Crea]]. The play, however, was never performed, due in part to Bacon's health and the harsh criticisms of her brother. It was published anonymously in 1839 (with a note claiming it was "not a play"). The text was reviewed favorably by the ''Saturday Courier'' and Edgar Allan Poe, but proved to be a commercial flop.<ref>Shapiro, 2010, 95-97.</ref>

Returning to New Haven, Bacon met Yale-educated minister [[Alexander MacWhorter III|Alexander MacWhorter]] in 1846.<ref name="Schiff"/> Time in each other's company and a trip to [[Northampton]] convinced many of the impropriety of their relationship. MacWhorter was brought to [[Ecclesiastical court|ecclesiastical trial]] by Bacon's brother Leonard for "dishonorable conduct," but was acquitted in a 12–11 vote.<ref name="Schiff"/> Public opinion compelled Bacon to leave New Haven for Ohio, while [[Catharine Beecher]] wrote a book defending her conduct.<ref name="Schiff"/>

Bacon died in 1859, having in 1858 been placed by her family in the care of a [[lunatic asylum]] at Hartford, Connecticut. According to her nephew, Theodore Bacon, she had been seized by a "violent mania" while in England, and had been "removed to an excellent private asylum for a small number of insane persons" at [[Henley-in-Arden]], Warwickshire, before being brought back to America.<ref>Shakespeare and the American Nation, Kim C. Sturgess, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 179</ref><ref>William Shakespeare: A Literary Biography, Karl Elze, George Bell & Sons, 1888, p. 269</ref><ref>Delia Bacon, Theodore Bacon, pp. 311-314</ref>