Jeanne C. Smith Carr

Jeanne C. Smith Carr
19th-century B&W portrait photo of a woman with her hair in an up-do, wearing a dark blouse with a frilly white collar.
Born
Jeanne Caroline Smith

1825
Castleton, Vermont, U.S.
DiedDecember 14, 1903
Templeton, California, U.S.
Burial placeOakland, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • educator
  • letter writer
  • newspaper correspondent
Known for"Carmelita"
Notable workKindred & Related Spirits, the Letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1844; died 1894)​

Jeanne Caroline Smith Carr (1825–1903) was a prolific American newspaper correspondent and an educator who served as Deputy California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. An expert in botany and horticulture,[1] Carr is chiefly remembered as a mentor of John Muir, with whom she had a public and platonic, yet warm and intimate relationship, their correspondence spanning 30 years.[2]

At her home, "Carmelita", in Pasadena, California, Helen Hunt Jackson is said to have written many pages of her masterpiece, Ramona. Carr was a good friend of Helena Modjeska; and among well-known people who partook of Carr's hospitality were Charles Dudley Warner, Bret Harte, Ole Bull, and Paul Du Chaillu.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BakkenKindell2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Muir, John; Carr, Jeanne C. Smith; Gisel, Bonnie Johanna (2001). Kindred & related spirits: the letters of John Muir and Jeanne C. Carr. University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-0-87480-682-3. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference LATimes1903 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).