Born as
Sophia McIlvaine Bledsoe on March 26, 1837, the daughter of
Albert Taylor Bledsoe and Harriet ( Coxe) Bledsoe (of
Gambier, Ohio), Sophia moved to New York after her marriage to the Reverend James B. Herrick, by whom she had several children. The couple separated when Herrick left the ministry to become a member of the
Oneida Community. She joined her father in
Baltimore, contributing to his journal
The Southern Review. In Baltimore, she opened a school for girls. She pursued an early interest in evolutionary theory by studying biology at
Johns Hopkins University and published scientific articles in
Century and ''
Scribner's Magazine for a general audience. She became a frequent contributor of articles, writing as Mrs S. B. Herrick, and was for a time assistant editor to Richard Watson Gilder at Century''. Her later works were on natural history and travel. Sophia Bledsoe Herrick died on October 9, 1919, in
Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 82. She had three children: Albert (born 1862), Virginia (born 1863), and Louise (born 1866). Her granddaughter was the anthropologist
Sophie Bledsoe Aberle. == Books==