Margaret Jane Mussey Swett was born in 1823 Portland, Maine, one of five children of John Mussey, Esq. and Mehitable Smith Rand. Her father, John was born October 15, 1790 in Portland, ME and he was married 25 July 1815. He was a lawyer and admitted to the Cumberland Bar in October 1842, and later became a Judge.

Margaret received her early education in Portland Schools and the Roxbury, Massachusetts Latin School. She was "one of the bluestockings", the literary women, of the mid-19th century and is credited with writing the first Sapphic novel in America, Ethel's Love Life, and was also reputed to be one of the first women book reviewers in New England. In addition to being a matron prominent in Portland Social Circles, she was a champion of various reform movements including Women's sufferage. The Westbrook Junior College has all her published works, as well as the handwritten journals and scrapbooks of this prominent citizen.

In 1849 at the age of 26, she married Lorenzo deMedici Swett, son of a Parsonfield physician. Lorenzo died in 1898. Margaret died in 1908 at 85 years of age.

If you wish to exchange family information, please e-mail Joanne Muzzy.

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