Margaretta Wade Campbell was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (today a part of Pittsburgh) on February 23, 1857. Her mother died due to complications from the birth, and she was left in the care of an aunt named Lois Wade and her husband Benjamin Campbell Blake. On May 12, 1880, she married
Lorin F. Deland. Her husband had inherited his father's publishing company, which he sold in 1886 and worked in advertising. Her novel
John Ward, Preacher, her first, was published in 1888. It was in this home that Canadian actress
Margaret Anglin visited in 1909, and the two women reviewed Deland's manuscript for
The Awakening of Helena Richie. Anglin reported "I never spent a pleasanter time than I did while Mrs. Deland and I chugged up and down the little Kennbunkport River in a boat, talking over the future of
Helena Richie." The Delands kept their summer home in Maine for about 50 years. During
World War I, Deland did relief work in France; she was awarded a cross from the Legion of Honor for her work. Deland was also a member of an informal women's social club that met regularly and included
Amy Beach, Alice Howe Gibbens (wife of
William James), and Ida Agassiz (wife of
Henry Lee Higginson). By 1941, Deland had published 33 books. She is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery. Her home on Mount Vernon Street is a stop on the
Boston Women's Heritage Trail. ==Critical response==