Margaret Frances Sullivan (1847 – December 28, 1903) was an Irish-born American author, journalist, and editor. She contributed to the principal American magazines, and her editorials, though unsigned, caused national comment. She was an editorial writer on Chicago daily newspapers and for journals in New York City and Boston; chief editorial writer for the Times-Herald, 1895; and editorial writer and art critic for the Chicago Chronicle, 1901.
One of her editorials was on the subject of why there were so few Democrats in the North. It was reproduced by politicians and, at the time of her death, was reprinted as a perfect example of political editorial writing. The Catholic World said, "She was ranked not with the distinguished women of the press but with the ablest men as Charles Anderson Dana of the New York Sun." Newspaper men who knew her admitted that she was, if not the greatest American editorial writer, at least the greatest that the city of Chicago had ever known.
Sullivan was sent to Paris, in 1889, as special cable correspondent of the Associated Press for the Universal Exposition. At its opening ceremony, she was the only writer to whom a seat was assigned in line with the French president, and the only representative of the press thus invited to assist at the ceremony. She was an authority on art, literature, science, politics, music and economics. Naturally gifted as she was, her remarkable power of concentration and the intense tenacity with which she applied herself made it easy for her to master any subject to which she devoted herself. Sullivan's Ireland of Today reached a sale of 30,000 copies. She co-authored Mexico, Picturesque, Political and Progressive with Mary Elizabeth McGrath Blake, of Boston.
Early years and education
Margaret Frances Buchanan was born in Drumquin, County Tyrone, Ireland, 1847. She was the ninth child of James Buchanan and Susan Gorman. The father, who was a manufacturer in Ulster, Ireland, died in her infancy, and the family came to Detroit, Michigan in 1851, two of her siblings having settled there in the early part of the previous decade.
Here Sullivan received her education, first in the Academy of the Sacred Heart, run by Sisters of Charity and Religious of the Sacred Heart, where she mastered the French language, which she later used to such good advantage in her newspaper work, and afterwards in the Detroit public schools. The course she pursued was classical rather than practical, Latin and Greek, with modern languages, music, drawing and physical sciences. An unusually gifted and an extraordinarily versatile scholar, she made an enviable record at school. She never attended college but always continued to perfect herself by reading and travel.
Career
Early career
After graduation, Buchanan became a principal at a public high school, in the Houghton school in Detroit. In 1870, she moved to Chicago to pursue a career in journalism. Her reception by the Chicago editors was anything but favorable. Her youth and sex, they told her frankly, were against her. It was some time, therefore, before she received a position on any of the Chicago dailies. During the time when she was without regular work, she wrote continuously, sending her stories to the various papers. Her manuscripts, as a rule, were accepted although the acceptances did not come with an offer for a staff position, the editors consistently refusing to take a woman on their papers. The first story of hers which was accepted was an account of the reception at Sacred Heart Convent, where she boarded during her first years in Chicago. She took the story to the offices of the Chicago Times and laid it on the desk of the managing editor. He picked it up, glanced at it and gave Sullivan . A few days later, as she was walking down Madison Avenue, someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was the editor of the Times. "I am sorry, Miss Buchanan, that I did not read your article before I paid you. It was extremely well written and worth more than five dollars." At that, he handed her a bill. Sullivan was 20 years old at the time and bore a striking resemblance to Rosa Bonheur.