Agnes Leonard Hill (, Leonard; pen names, Mollie Myrtle and Garth Godfrey; January 20, 1842 – January 20, 1917) was an American journalist, newspaper founder and publisher, as well as an author and poet, an evangelist and a social reformer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, her mother died when Hill was a small child, and with her father remaining unmarried, and very indulgent, Hill led a roving, gypsy sort of life, following her own inclinations, and studying persons rather than books. From earliest childhood, she evinced a fondness for writing.
As an adult, Hill lived in Chicago, Illinois and Denver, Colorado. She wrote editorials for various newspapers of those cities and states. Hill was the author of Vanquished, Heights and Depths, Hints on How to Talk, Myrtle Blossoms, Said Confidentially, What Makes Social Leadership, Who are the Vulgar?, How to Give Gifts Acceptably, Evidences of Reincarnation, Christian Science vs. Commons Sense, and The Coming Religion. Widowed twice, she made a living from her writing, but she is also remembered for her evangelism in the United States and England, her lectures on literature, and her outreach to convicts in penitentiaries, jails, and prisons.
Hill was regarded as one of the noted writers, poets, and evangelists in the U.S. and was considered by many as an authority on social customs and correct behavior. She was honored in the U.S., France and Germany for her writings.
Early life and education
Agnes Leonard was born in Louisville, Kentucky, January 20, 1842. Her parents were Dr. Oliver Langdon Leonard, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, and Agnes Howard (Sayle) Leonard, of Virginian parentage, who died in Louisville, leaving three children.
On the paternal side, she was descended from the English Earls of Sussex, one of whose house came to New England in early colonial days and in gratitude for his safe landing, named his first child born on American soil "Preserved", and this name was given to the oldest son for several generations. One of these, Preserved Leonard, married Joanna Langdon, daughter of John Langdon (q.v.), presiding officer of the first U. S. senate and a signer of the constitution, and they were the grandparents of our subject. Her first American ancestor on the maternal side was Louis Francois Phillip Jacob Copeland Irion (later spelled Arion), a French nobleman who settled in Virginia during the French Revolution.
Hill's father, Dr. Oliver Langdon Leonard, was for many years celebrated as a "mathematician." He practiced medicine in the city of Louisville for many years; yet desiring to give his children the best possible educational advantages under his direct supervision, he gave up his practice as a physician, and took charge of the Masonic College in La Grange, Kentucky, just before the Civil War, and was afterwards President of the Henry Female College, at New Castle, Kentucky. He also founded the Inductive Academy at Lexington, Kentucky. He evolved from Pestalozzi's theories a method of education which he defined as "teaching a child to grow his own thoughts rather than repeat, parrot-like, the thoughts of others". His views concerning education were somewhat peculiar and very original.
After her mother's death, while Hill was just a young girl, she made her home with an aunt whose husband was at that time British ambassador to the United States. Here, members of the English nobility were frequently entertained. By her father, Hill was taught to write before she could read, and could write a letter at the age of five years, and before she knew a printed letter. She studied Algebra and the elementary principles of Geometry when she was seven years of age, and when she was only thirteen, began to write for the press. Her first article was a short effort at versification, which was published in the Louisville Courier-Journal and noticed by George D. Prentice, as follows:
Soon after this, her name became well known as subscribed to verses, sketches and short stories, published in the New York Weekly, The Knickerbocker, and several Chicago papers. In her early girlhood, she published three books, but did not consider any of them worthy of preservation. In 1862, she graduated from Henry Female College.