Background
Catharine Maria was born on December 28, 1789 in Stockbridge, Massachussets, United States. Throughout her life she was closely identified with this region; her novels dealing with the natural beauty and local customs of the Berkshires are among the first attempts to use American material in fiction.
She was the daughter of Pamela (Dwight) and Theodore Sedgwick, 1746-1813, both descendants of seventeenth-century settlers in New England. Born into a family of distinction and of modest wealth, she was accustomed to the companionship of books and of cultivated people. She listened to intelligent talk, read widely, and like other girls of her time and class learned to perform all household duties.
When she was in her eighteenth year her mother died, and the following year her father remarried. After her father's death in 1813 she presided over the house in Stockbridge. Later she lived with a much-loved brother in Lenox in the summers and spent her winters in New York with other relatives, who were all deeply devoted to her.
