Martina Swafford

Martina Swafford
"A Woman of the Century"
Born	Marthena Funkhouser July 26, 1845 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Died	June 29, 1913(1913-06-29) (aged 67) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Resting place	Highland Lawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana
Pen name	Belle Bremer
Occupation	poet
Language	English
Nationality	American
Notable works	Wych-elm, poems
Spouse	Benjamin Franklin Swafford ​ ​ (m. 1862; died 1900)​

Martina Swafford (née, Funkhouser; pen name, Belle Bremer; July 26, 1845 – June 29, 1913) was an American poet of the long nineteenth century. Widely known by her pen-name, "Belle Bremer", her vision was greatly impaired, so much so that much of the time she was unable to read or write. Swafford was a native of Indiana, and by education, environment, and primary attachments, she was an Indiana poet. Yet she called herself semi-Southern, because of her Virginian parentage and her own yearly temporary home in the South. She spent her winters at Huntsville, Alabama, a noted health resort of the time, where much of her poetry was written. It was said that the cheerful, hopeful tone of these poems, made more effective by an underlying pathos, was a pleasing contrast to the melancholy which marred the work of so many verse-makers of the time.^[1]