CATHERINE ELIZABETH ALICIA (COGGAN) STANFORD was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England on 1 March 1830 to Thomas Coggan and Alicia Ann Tyson, she emigrated to the United States in 1848 at the age of 18 and landed in Boston. In 1850, she became involved in a relationship with a much older man, James Stanford, a businessman of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were married in 1855 at Lynn, Massachusetts. He died in 1872 leaving her penniless with three children to support. Her oldest son enlisted in the North West Mounted Police three years later, in 1875, thus relieving her of some of her burden.
In an attempt to raise money for the family, she wrote a romantic novella, Hearts Versus Diamonds, which was initially published as a serial in Potter's American Monthly Illustrated Magazine beginning with the July 1878 issue under the pseudonym of Carl Chester. Much later, she saw it in print as a hardcover book (NY: F. T. Neely,1899). Neither occasion yielded much income to her.
In her efforts to get the story published, she showed a determination that was not easily turned aside and had stood her in good stead in hard times. Hearts Versus Diamonds is a simple story and the product of its times. The plot is not overly complex, and revolves around the usual problems the heroine has in obtaining her one true love. It is not great literature by any means, but it is a pleasant story. Semi-autobiographical to some extent, it is deserving of preservation for the insight it gives into the mind of the woman who wrote it. Here is an aspect of the extended Conrad family never seen before, a peek past the usual story and into a little-known corner of the life of C. E. Conrad's mother-in-law.
Hearts Versus Diamonds was reprinted in 2012 by Spotted Cap Books (see link, right) with a long introduction detailing the trials and tribulations Catherine experienced in seeing her work in print, as well as a short biography.
—Richard L. Hardesty, ©2022