Elizabeth Oakes (Prince) Smith (1806-1893) was born and raised in Maine, and married Seba Smith, a popular humorist and editor of a Portland weekly journal, the ***Eastern Argus***. In addition to raising their six sons and managing a household that included printers and apprentices, Mrs. Smith wrote poems and stories for the ***Argus***. After her husband lost their fortune in the Panic of 1837 she began writing for leading ladies’ journals. ***The Western Captive*** first appeared in two “supplements” in the ***New World*** in 1842.

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