Over the River and Other Poems

Boston: Lee And Shepard. NY: Charles T Dillingham. Fair/ndj. 1883. First Edition. Hardcover. Brown cloth, gilt. Tipped-in b/w photo frontis portrait hand-signed by the author: "Nancie A. W. Priest". With waterstain to boards and top edge of the first 200pp. Pulling at front hinge, but holding.; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; 391 pages; Signed by Author. bx133

Wikipedia: She was born at Royalston, Massachusetts, in 1836. She worked in a mill in New Hampshire for several years.[2] Her fame rests upon the popular poem, "Over the River", published in the Springfield Republican in 1857. According to some accounts, she wrote the first draft of the poem while at work in the mill.[2][3]

In 1865, she was married to Lieut. Arlington C. Wakefield. She died at Winchendon, Massachusetts, in 1870,[4] leaving behind her husband and three children, one only an infant.

Her poems were published 13 years after her death by her mother, Mrs. Francis D. Priest, with a memoir by the Rev. Abijah Perkins Marvin (Boston, 1883).

Her poem entitled "Over The River" carried her name to wherever the English language was read. In the many years since publishing the poem (1857) it has been set to music by six to eight different composers and was included in Volume 111 of "The Worlds Best Poetry" (1904). Upon the death of President Lincoln she wrote a hymn that was sung to the tune of "America" by over 800 at a memorial service held in the Town Hall.

A volume of her poems were published by her mother in 1882 entitled "Over the River and other Poems" with forward by A. P. Marvin who said "there are some specimens of poetry in this collection which bear the stamp of genius".