| Intro | American novelist, short-story writer |
| A.K.A. | Eliza Phelps Estabrook Evans-Hansell |
| Is |
Writer Novelist Short story writer |
| From | United States of America |
| Type | Literature |
| Gender | female |
| Birth | 27 August 1836, Middlesex County |
Eliza Phelps Estabrook Evans-Hansell (née Eliza Phelps Estabrook; nickname, “Lizzie”; pen names Esta Brook, Aunt Nabby, Mrs. Peleg Newsby, Mrs. Abigail A. Evans; August 27, 1836 – 1922) was a 19th-century American novelist and short-story writer from Massachusetts. Under the title, “Aunt Nabby”, she wrote articles with dialect humor in the columns of the Boston Commonwealth and other newspapers, before aggregating the stories into an illustrated volume. Evans-Hansell was interested in historical and genealogical research.
Early years and education
Eliza “Lizzie” Phelps Estabrook was born in Arlington, Massachusetts on August 27, 1836 (or August 27, 1846). She was the youngest daughter of Captain Endor and Lydia Adams Estabrook, and a granddaughter of Deacon John Adams, who owned and occupied the Adams house, which was riddled with bullets when war swept through West Cambridge, Massachusetts, now Arlington, as the British soldiers, on their retreat from Concord and Lexington, erroneously supposed that the patriot, Samuel Adams, a cousin of Deacon John Adams, was secreted within its walls.
Her siblings included: James Adams (1818-1866), Sarah Adams (b. 1820), Hannah Adams (b. 1822), Endor (1825-1880), John Norcross (b. 1830), Lydia A. (b. 1832), and Mary Emeline (b. 1834).
Career
Under the title, “Aunt Nabby”, and using pseudonyms of Mrs. Peleg Newsby and Mrs. Abigail A. Evans, Evans-Hansell collected the letters which appeared from time to time in the columns of the Boston Commonwealth and other newspapers into an illustrated volume. The diction and humor of these missives served as an effective medium for the satire and comment upon measures and people for which “Aunt Nabby” was distinguished. “Aunt Nabby” was an entertaining picture of country life, customs, dialects and ideas. The book was a successful essay in laughing down the overdone conventionalities of fashionable life.
Another of her successful books was “From Summer to Summer,” an entertaining home story. She also wrote many short stories and sketches, published under the pen name “Esta Brook” (or “Esta Brooks”). Her articles of dialect humor were written under the pen name of “Aunt Nabby.”
Personal life
On November 3, 1863, she married Andrew Allison Evans (Concord, New Hampshire, September 5, 1816 – Boston, May 31, 1888), son of Samuel and Margaret Barr (Allison) Evans. He was the inventor of the all-paper collar. He was an active endorser of the temperance cause. She resided in Somerville, Massachusetts, and was interested in historical and genealogical research. On August 16, 1893, in New York, she married George Howe Hansell.
Selected works
- Aunt Nabby: her rambles, her adventures, and her notions, 1898
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From Summer to Summer: A Novel, 1901