Frances Miriam Whitcher
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Frances Miriam "Berry" Whitcher (1811 - 1852) was an American humorist, born in Whitestown, New York.
She contributed poems and sketches to the newspapers. Her humorous creation, The Widow Bedott, made her a celebrity.
She married Rev. Benjamin W. Whitcher of Elmira, New York in 1847. Following their marriage, he lost his position in his church, perhaps due to claims by people that she used them as models. Her chief book, The Widow Bedott Papers, was gathered from her writings in 1855.
Afterwards, David R. Locke fashioned a coarsely amusing play from it. Consult the memoir by M. L. W. Whitcher in Frances M. Whitcher's Widow Spriggins (New York, 1867).
