Blanche Willis Howard (1847–1898)

Blanche Willis Howard was born and raised in Bangor, Maine into a family that was among the earliest settlers of that community. She attended Bangor High School. Her early novel One Summer (1875), set in coastal Maine, established her as an author. In 1877, she went to Germany on assignment to write travel articles for the Boston Evening Transcript and remained there for the rest of her life, settling in Stuttgart. She started a finishing school for American girls abroad and edited a magazine. In 1890, she married Baron Julius von Teuffel, the court physician to King Charles I of Württemberg, making her Baroness von Teuffel. She wrote a total of 14 books, including novels, a travelogue, short stories, and poems, and was one of the few writers of her time to publish her work in the USA from outside the country. She's credited with helping to encourage American interest in European travel.