{{short description|American writer and journalist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore | image = Elizabeth Bisland circa1891.jpg | image_size = | caption = Elizabeth Bisland circa 1891 | birth_name = Elizabeth Bisland | birth_date = {{birth date|1861|02|11}} | birth_place = [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana|St. Mary Parish]], Louisiana | death_date = {{death date and age|1929|01|06|1861|02|11}} | death_place = [[Charlottesville, Virginia]] | occupation = Writer | spouse = Charles B. Wetmore (October 6, 1854 – June 1, 1919)<ref name="charlesapple1">MacKay, Robert B. et al. (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=jIXc9ES8qcAC&pg=PT258 Long Island country houses and their architects, 1860–1940] (1997) ({{ISBN|978-0-393-03856-9}})</ref><ref name="deathdatedh">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yz4BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185 Necrology], ''[[Harvard Magazine|The Harvard Graduates Magazine]]'', September 1919, p. 185 (listing death of death for Charles Wetmore)</ref><ref name="dhmore2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjAmAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA99 Charles Whitman Wetmore], ''Harvard College, Class of 1875, Secretary's Report No. VII'', p.99-100 (1899)</ref><ref name="barlow">Harrison, Mitchell C. [https://books.google.com/books?id=W0YDAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA224 Prominent and Progressive Americans], Vol. II, p.225-27 (1904) (three-page biography of Charles Whitman Wetmore, noting his law partnership with former Civil War General [[Francis C. Barlow]] and later position as president of [[North American Company]])</ref> | parents = Thomas Shields Bisland (1837–1908)<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/07/18/archives/thomas-sheilds-bisland-dead.html | work=The New York Times | title=Thomas Sheilds Bisland Dead | date=July 18, 1908}}</ref> and Margaret (Brownson) Bisland (m. June 24, 1858) | children = }}
'''Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore''' (February 11, 1861 – January 6, 1929) was an American journalist and author, perhaps now best known for her 1889–1890 race around the world against [[Nellie Bly]], which drew worldwide attention. The majority of her writings were [[Literature|literary works]]. She published all of her works as '''Elizabeth Bisland'''.
==Early career==
Bisland was born on Fairfax Plantation, [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana|St. Mary Parish]], Louisiana, on February 11, 1861. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the family fled the homestead prior to the [[Battle of Fort Bisland]]. Life was difficult when they returned, and when she was twelve the family moved to [[Natchez, Louisiana]], site of her father's family home that he had inherited.<ref name="longbio">Verdery, Katherine. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MUsrAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Elizabeth+Bisland+Wetmore%22&pg=PA5767 Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore], in ''Library of Southern Literature'', p.5767-72 (1910)</ref>
She began her writing career as a teenager, sending poetry to the ''[[The Times-Picayune|New Orleans Times Democrat]]'' using the pen name ''B. L. R. Dane''.<ref name="longbio"/><ref name="dane1">Bradshaw, Jim. [https://archive.today/20130131213834/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/theadvertiser/access/1749484621.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+02,+2006&author=Jim+Bradshaw&pub=The+Daily+Advertiser&desc=Acadiana+Diary:+ST.+Mary+journalist+competed+with+Bly&pqatl=google Acadiana Diary: St. Mary journalist competed with Bly], ''[[The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette)|The Daily Advertiser]]'', April 2, 2006</ref><ref name="dane2">Bradshaw, Jim. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121104045106/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/theadvertiser/access/1699601191.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+03,+2008&author=Jim+Bradshaw&pub=The+Daily+Advertiser&desc=Elizabeth+Bisland+raced+Nellie+Bly+around+world&pqatl=google Elizabeth Bisland raced Nellie Bly around world], ''[[The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette)|The Daily Advertiser]]'', August 3, 2008</ref> Once her writing activity was revealed to her family and the editor of the paper, she was paid for the work, and she soon went to [[New Orleans]] to work for the paper.<ref name="longbio"/>
Around 1887, Bisland moved to New York City<ref name="theday1">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mAsiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t3MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4846,93701&dq=elizabeth-bisland&hl=en Bright Women These: Sketches and Portraits of Some Daughters of the South], ''[[The Day (New London)|The Day]]'', January 2, 1891</ref> and got her first work from ''[[The Sun (New York)|The Sun]]'' newspaper.<ref name="longbio"/> By 1889 she was doing work for a number of publications, including the ''[[New York World]]''.<ref name="longbio"/> Among other outlets, she later became an editor at ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazine and she also contributed to the ''[[The Atlantic|Atlantic Monthly]]'' and the ''[[North American Review]]''.<ref name="nytobit"/>
==Journey around the world== [[File:Elizabeth Bisland Around the World.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth Bisland on a ship's deck during her around-the-world race against [[Nellie Bly]]]] {{see also|Around the World in Seventy-Two Days}} In November 1889, the ''[[New York World]]'' announced that it was sending its reporter [[Nellie Bly]] around the world, in a bid to beat [[Phileas Fogg]]'s fictitious 80-day journey in [[Jules Verne]]'s novel ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/when-cosmopolitan-sent-victorian-lady-race-around-globe|title=When Cosmopolitan Sent A Victorian Lady To Race Around The Globe|work=Popular Science|access-date=2017-08-24|language=en}}</ref> Catching wind of this publicity stunt, [[John Brisben Walker]], who had just purchased the three-year-old and still-fledgling ''Cosmopolitan'', decided to dispatch Bisland on her own journey.<ref name="walker1">Roggenkamp, Karen S.H. [http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/bisland.html Dignified Sensationalism: Elizabeth Bisland, Cosmopolitan, and Trips Around the World] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112042246/http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/kroggenkamp/bisland.html |date=January 12, 2010 }}, ''presented at'' "Writing the Journey: A Conference on American, British, & Anglophone Writers and Writing" University of Pennsylvania, June 10–13, 1999</ref>
Ultimately, however, Bly triumphed over Bisland. Critically, while in England, Bisland was told (and apparently believed) she had missed her intended ride, the swift German steamer ''Ems'' leaving from [[Southampton]], even though her publisher had bribed the shipping company to delay its departure. It is unknown whether she was intentionally deceived.<ref name="marks1">Abrams, Alan. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=im0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VwMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6364,1175304 Gold among the summer's dross], ''[[The Blade (Toledo)|Toledo Blade]]'', September 5, 1993</ref> She was thus forced to catch the slow-going ''Bothnia'' on January 18, departing from [[Cobh|Queenstown]] (now Cobh), Ireland, ensuring that Bly would prevail.<ref name="bothnia1">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LjInAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2gMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4329,665721 Round Went Nelly], ''[[Daily Argus News]]'', January 25, 1890</ref><ref name="arrtrib">[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/430033842.html?dids=430033842:430033842&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+31,+1890&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ARRIVAL+OF+ELIZABETH+BISLAND.&pqatl=google Arrival of Elizabeth Bisland: Although Beaten by Neille Bly She Succeeds in Lowering Phiness Fogg's Record] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104045004/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/430033842.html?dids=430033842:430033842&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+31,+1890&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ARRIVAL+OF+ELIZABETH+BISLAND.&pqatl=google |date=November 4, 2012 }}, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', January 31, 1890</ref><ref name="trib2">[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/771247092.html?dids=771247092:771247092&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+18,+1890&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ELIZABETH+BISLAND+AND+NELLIE+BLY&pqatl=google ELIZABETH BISLAND AND NELLIE BLY: The Globe-Trotting Race Between the Two Rapidly Nearing Its End] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104045020/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/771247092.html?dids=771247092:771247092&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+18,+1890&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=ELIZABETH+BISLAND+AND+NELLIE+BLY&pqatl=google |date=November 4, 2012 }}, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', January 18, 1890</ref><ref name="departrace1">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8_MnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3QQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=867,5178778&dq=elizabeth-bisland&hl=en Woman Against Woman: "Nellie Bly" and Miss Bisland go racing around the world], ''[[Aurora Daily Express]]'', November 27, 1889</ref><ref name="jan18">[https://www.nytimes.com/1890/01/19/archives/all-around-the-world-miss-bisland-now-on-her-ocean-voyage-to.html ALL AROUND THE WORLD.; MISS BISLAND NOW ON HER OCEAN VOYAGE TO NEW-YORK], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 19, 1890</ref>
Bisland's ship did not arrive in Manhattan until January 30. She completed her trip in 76{{fraction|1|2}} days, well ahead of Fogg's fictional record but slower than Bly's 72 days.<ref name="nytarrive">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E0D9143BE533A25752C3A9679C94619ED7CF&scp=54&sq=bisland&st=p Miss Bisland Arrives: Her Trip Around the World in 76{{fraction|1|2}} days], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 31, 1890</ref> Bisland wrote a series of articles for the ''Cosmopolitan'' on her journey, subsequently published as a book entitled, ''In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around The World'' (1891).<ref name="rivalletter">Bandel, Betty. [https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/07/archives/nellie-blys-rival.html Nellie Bly's Rival (letter to editor)], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 7, 1971</ref><ref name="marksbook">Marks, Jason. ''Around the World in 72 Days: The race between Pulitzer's Nellie Bly and Cosmopolitan's Elizabeth Bisland'' (Gemittarius Press 1993) ({{ISBN|978-0-9633696-2-8}})</ref><ref name="wong">Wong, Edlie L. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck86luszYU8C&pg=PA296 Around the World and across the Board: Nellie Bly and the Geography of Games]'', in ''American literary geographies: spatial practice and cultural production, 1500–1900'', pp. 296–324 (Brückner, Martin & Hus, Hsuan L., eds.) (2007) ({{ISBN|978-0-87413-980-8}})</ref>
==Later career== Bisland's writing was of a more literary nature than her participation in the world race might indicate (and her writings were a clear contrast from the more swashbuckling style of Bly's [[Around the World in Seventy-Two Days|writings]] on her trip). Indeed, her 1929 ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' obituary failed to even mention the journey,<ref name="nytobit"/> and she focused her writing on more serious topics after "the race". In 1906, she published the well-received ''The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn'';<ref name="hearn1review">{{cite news|first= James|last= Huneker|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/12/01/101718218.pdf|title= EXOTIC LAFCADIO HEARN; The Life and Letters of a Master of Nuance – Elizabeth Bisland's Sympathetic Biography|newspaper=The New York Times| date= December 1, 1906}}</ref> she had first met [[Lafcadio Hearn|Hearn]] when both were living in New Orleans in the 1880s.<ref name="longbio"/>
She co-wrote with Anne Hoyt ''Seekers in Sicily'', which was written before, but published after, the [[1908 Messina earthquake]].
Bisland's final book, ''Three Wise Men of the East'' (1930), was published posthumously.<ref name="three1">{{cite news|last=Feld|first= Rose C.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/03/archives/three-oriental-sages.html |title= Three Oriental Sages (book review)]|newspaper=The New York Times|date= May 3, 1931}} (note: abstract)</ref>
==Personal life== Bisland married lawyer Charles Whitman Wetmore in 1891,<ref name="nytobit"/><ref name="smokes">{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/03/22/118492299.pdf|title= Heard in the Smoking Room|newspaper=The New York Times|date= March 22, 1903}} (stating that Wetmore graduated from Harvard in 1875; other records show he obtained an L.L.B. as well in 1877)</ref> however, she continued to publish books under her maiden name. The couple constructed a noted summer residence called ''Applegarth'' (on [[Long Island]]'s [[North Shore (Long Island)|North Shore]]) in 1892.<ref name="charlesapple1"/><ref name="arch1">{{cite news|last= Aspinwall|first= J. Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNVAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA27|title= Applegarth: Residence of Chas B. Wetmore, Esq., Center Island, Oyster Bay, L.I.|work=Architectural Record|date= March 1903|pages= 279–291}}</ref><ref name="bisapp1">{{cite news|last=Bisland|first=Elizabeth|title=The Building of Applegarth|work=Country Life in America|date=October 1910|pages=657–660}}</ref><ref>Goodman, Matthew, ''[https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/elizabeth-bislands-race-around-the-world Elizabeth Bisland's Race Around the World]'', The ''[[Public Domain Review]]'', October 16, 2013 with image of Applegarth</ref>
Bisland died of pneumonia near [[Charlottesville, Virginia]] on January 6, 1929, and was buried at [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]] in [[The Bronx]], [[New York City]],<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB091EFB3D5A167A93CBA9178AD85F4D8285F9 |title= MRS. E.B. WETMORE, AUTHOR, DIES IN SOUTH; Former Elizabeth Bisland of This City to Be Buried in Woodlawn Today|newspaper=The New York Times|date= January 9, 1929}}</ref> coincidentally, in the same cemetery as Bly, who also died of pneumonia in 1922.<ref name=Sky>{{cite web|title=Elizabeth Bisland|url=https://nelliebly125.wordpress.com/tag/elizaeth-bisland/|website=Nellie Bly in the Sky|date=November 4, 2014 |accessdate=29 November 2015}}</ref>
==Selected bibliography== {{library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksby=yes|viaf=20052507}} * [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bisland/stages/stages.html ''In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World''], New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891 * ''A Candle of Understanding'' (1903) * ''The Secret Life: Being the Book of a Heretic'' (1906) * ''The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn'' (1906) * ''Three Wise Men of the East'' (1930)
==In popular culture == Although Bisland is far less remembered than Bly,<ref name="aj">Kilmer, Paulette D. [https://archive.org/stream/americanjournali16amer#page/n225/mode/2up/ Flying Around the World in 1889 - In Search of the Archetypal Wanderer], in ''[[American Journalism (journal)|American Journalism]]'' (Spring (1999)</ref> the race between the two has been the subject of two works of [[popular history]] and one [[musical theatre]] production:
* Goodman, Matthew (October 2013). "[http://publicdomainreview.org/2013/10/16/elizabeth-bislands-race-around-the-world/ Elizabeth Bisland's Race Around the World]". ''Public Domain Review''. * Marks, Jason. ''Around the World in 72 Days: The race between Pulitzer's Nellie Bly and Cosmopolitan's Elizabeth Bisland'' (Gemittarius Press 1993) ({{ISBN|978-0-9633696-2-8}}) *DiFabbio, Marialena and Jones, Susannah. ''Bisland and Bly''. Sycamore Theatre Company, 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nymf.org/festival/2019-events/bisland-bly|title=Bisland and Bly|last=|first=|date=July 2019|website=New York Musical Festival|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sycamoretheatre.org/projects|title=Sycamore Theatre Company|last=|first=|access-date=July 18, 2019|website=}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bisland/stages/stages.html ''In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World''] New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891 at [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women A Celebration of Women Writers] * {{Gutenberg author | id=41668| name=Elizabeth Bisland}} * {{Librivox author |id=12352}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Elizabeth Bisland}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisland, Elizabeth}} [[Category:1861 births]] [[Category:1929 deaths]] [[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Virginia]] [[Category:People from St. Mary Parish, Louisiana]] [[Category:19th-century American journalists]] [[Category:19th-century American women journalists]] [[Category:Writers from Louisiana]] [[Category:Journalists from Louisiana]] [[Category:Writers from New York City]] [[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)]]