Margaret Elizabeth Sangster Biography

Margaret Elizabeth Sangster (1838-1912) was an American poet, author, and editor. She was popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Childhood

Sangster was the daughter of John Munson of Ireland and Margaret Chisholm of New York. Her father was in the marble industry in New York City. Margaret and her younger sister Isabell grew up in a very religious household and the two sisters were well educated.

Career

Sangster eventually became an editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Through her work she became acquainted with notable people of her age, including Mark Twain and Helen Keller. Other than Harper’s Bazaar, she contributed to Ladies' Home Journal, Hearth and Home, and the Christian Intelligencer.

Sangster wrote numerous novels and collections of poetry, all deeply infused with religious overtones and references.

Personal life

Sangster spent most of her life in New York and New Jersey. She married George Sangster in 1858 and essentially gave up writing until after his death in 1871. She never remarried and she died in 1912. Her nephew, Charles Chisholm Brainerd, was married to the author Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd.