Stella Asling-Riis

Stella Eugenie Asling-Riis (October 4, 1869 — 1957) was a Canadian writer and a clubwoman in New York City.

Early life

Histella Eugenia Asling was born at Simcoe, Ontario, the daughter of Charles Wesley Asling and Mary Isabella Morrow Asling. She attended Parkdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto.^[1]

Career

An early example of short fiction by Stella Asling, "To History Unknown," appeared in The Canadian Magazine in 1893.^[2] Asling-Riis wrote a serialized epistolary tale, "The Adventures of Elisa" (1912), for The American Scandinavian Magazine.^[3] Historical novels by Stella Asling-Riis included Crowned at Elim (1903),^[4] The Great Fresh Sea (1931) and Star Over Flushing (1939).^[5] She also wrote non-fiction articles for magazines.^[6]^[7]

Asling-Riis was also a regular writer of letters to the editor of The New York Times in the 1920s, on topics as varied as King Tut's Tomb, Americanization, and the Norse in early North America.^[8]^[9]^[10]

She organized a chapter of Daughters of the British Empire,^[1]^[11] and was active in the Writers Club of Brooklyn,^[12] the Twentieth Century Club,^[13] and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She attended national and state temperance meetings even after the end of Prohibition.^[14] Asling-Riis gave talks to women's groups about the Huron people of Canada, wearing costumes to evoke their culture; she told of being adopted into the tribe and receiving a tribal name.^[1]^[15]

Personal life

Stella Asling married Andreas Jensen "Andrew" Riis (1869-1936), a Danish-born builder and widower with two young sons, in 1906. They lived in Richmond Hill, New York and were active in the American Scandinavian Foundation. Stella was also a member of the Danish American Women's Association. She was widowed when Andrew Riis died by suicide in 1936; she moved back to Ontario, where she died in 1957.^[16]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Personalities in Clubdom: Mrs. Andrew J. Riis" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (February 26, 1933): 22. via Newspapers.com
^ Stella Eugenie Asling, "To History Unknown" The Canadian Magazine (May 1893): 239-246.
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "The Adventures of Elisa" American Scandinavian (1912): 154-157.
^ Stella Eugenie Asling, Crowned at Elim (Smith & Wilkins 1903).
^ Stella Eugenie Asling-Riis, Star Over Flushing (Bruce Humphries 1939).
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "Art and the Inner Life" The American-Scandinavian Review (June 1921): 381-383.
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "Bornholm, the Gem of the Baltic" The American-Scandinavian (July 1910): 5.
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "A Glance at Egypt" New York Times (February 14, 1923): 16.
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "Americanization Zeal" New York Times (June 20, 1920): E2.
^ Stella E. Asling-Riis, "History in Burial Mounds" New York Times (November 15, 1925): X14.
^ "British Society Reception" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (May 16, 1914): 2. via Newspapers.com
^ Untitled item, Brooklyn Life and Activities of Long Island Society (December 10, 1927): 13. via Newspapers.com
^ "Twentieth Century" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (January 5, 1936): 16. via Newspapers.com
^ "Jamaica W. C. T. U." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (September 13, 1936): 19. via Newspapers.com
^ "Prospect Club Meets with Mrs. Salter" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 25, 1932): 33. via Newspapers.com
^ Canada's Early Women Writers, SFU Digitized Collections, Simon Fraser University.