Abba Goold Woolson
American writer

Abba Goold Woolson (née, Goold; April 30, 1838 – February 6, 1921) was a 19th-century American teacher, author, and poet from Maine. She published several volumes, including: Women in American Society (1873); Dress Reform (1874); Browsing Among Books (1881); and George Eliot and Her Heroines (1887). Woolson taught and lectured on various topics.
Early life and education
Abba Louisa Goold was born in Windham, Maine, April 30, 1838, at the old homestead at Windham, 10 miles (16 km) from Portland, Maine. The second of seven children, she was the daughter of Hon. William Goold, who was recognized in Portland as an authority on matters which concern its local history. He served for years as an active member, and as corresponding secretary, of the Maine Historical Society. He was the author of several leading papers, and of a large volume entitled Portland in the Past, published in that city in 1886. For two years, he represented the Portland district in the State Legislature as senator, with a previous service of two years as representative.
Her family lived in Windham for four generations, her great-grandfather, Benjamin Goold —a native of Kittery, Maine— having moved there from Portland (then Falmouth) in 1774.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29568827. VIAF identifies the subject as 73462287. The Library of Congress control number is no97061385. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1921, 1873 and 1874.
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This entry incorporates text from “Abba Goold Woolson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.