Born in 1860 and raised in Schultzville, Pennsylvania, as the daughter of William and Ruth Clay, Harriet Clay Penman had a writing career that spanned not only decades, but across the country.
Following completion of her education at Keystone Academy and Bloomsburg State Normal School, Harriet Clay was employed as a teacher in Scranton’s public schools. Clay, like many women of her time, engaged in the popular pastime of writing poetry.
Writing first under the name Hattie Clay, she read one of her patriotic poetic writings, “Soldiers of the Union” at the1883 Memorial Day Fair at the Scranton Armory. Between 1884 and 1886, she also had her poetic words published in the Scranton Republican and the nationally known Petersons Magazine under the pen name Steenie Grey.
With her 1888 marriage to Scranton merchant Charles Penman, Harriet was required to relinquish her teaching career. This was a constraint for married teachers, with few exceptions, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Although no longer allowed to teach due to her marital status, Penman continued to write and voice her opinions under the nom-de-plume “Saucy Bess.” The columns of Saucy Bess appeared regularly in The Scranton Republican from 1893 to 1908 and featured “current topics crisply written up.” Penman did not confine her writings to poetry, prose, and newspaper articles. She wrote letters to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Rutherford B. Hayes, copies of which are now housed in those respective presidential libraries.
Following the death of her husband in 1912, Penman busied herself with the social and benevolent women’s societies in Scranton. In 1922 she moved to Hollywood, California. There she became a “much loved” member of the Hollywood social scene and the society editor for The Hollywood News. Her affiliations brought her into contact with members of the community who desired to bring the arts and music to the public in an outdoor setting.
Penman aligned herself with those who championed the creation of the Hollywood Bowl. Following its completion Penman was described in the July 30, 1925, issue of The Musical Leader as an “enthusiastic attendant at the Hollywood Bowl concerts who nightly revels in the symphonies presented under the stars. Miss Penman is a true lover of music, being a thorough musician and student.”
From December 1927 to mid-1928 Penman embarked on a trip around the world. On Christmas Day 1928, Penman fell at a Hollywood beach club and incurred a serious knee injury. This injury kept her confined to hospitals and her home for the next seven months.
She made a limited returned to her society circle, but in September 1929 died of a heart attack. Her remains were returned to Scranton and laid to rest in the Dunmore Cemetery.
