LYDIA HOWARD (HUNTLEY) SIGOURNEY (1 September 1791-10 June 1865), author, known at the height of her fame as "the sweet singer of Hartford" and "the American Mrs. Hemans," has not sustained her popularity or her reputation. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, the only child of Ezekial and Zerviah (Wentworth) Huntley, she was educated in local schools before teaching young ladies at Norwich and Hartford. Her first book, whose title would have been appropriate for most of her writings, was Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse (1815). In 1819 she married Charles Sigourney, a widower with three children, and she continued writing to support her favorite causes--peace and war relief, temperance and missionaries--and, later on, to augment the family income. In this she was eminently successful. Her verse and prose were moral, sentimental, and pious, concerned principally with death; her style was euphemistic and at times affected; her rhythms were conventional. Her writings appealed...