The Mormon niece who became California’s first poet laureate and a literary icon.

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Born into the heart of early Mormonism, Ina Coolbrith fled her past to become the soul of San Francisco’s literary scene. As a librarian and poet, she mentored legends like Jack London while shaping the cultural identity of the American West, eventually becoming the state’s first official poet laureate.

Born Josephine Donna Smith in 1841, Ina Coolbrith was the niece of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Following her father’s death and her mother’s departure from the faith, she traveled by wagon train to California in 1851. In a moment of frontier lore, the ten-year-old girl rode into the state on the saddle of the famed scout James P. Beckwourth, becoming the first white child to cross the pass that now bears his name.

By 1862, she had adopted her mother’s maiden name and settled in San Francisco. There, she became a central figure in a vibrant literary circle that included Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Ambrose Bierce. Coolbrith was not merely a participant; she was a catalyst. As an editorial assistant for the Overland Monthly and later as a librarian in Oakland, she nurtured the talents of a new generation, including Jack London and Isadora Duncan. Her home became a renowned salon for writers, a role she maintained even after the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed her residence and much of her unpublished manuscript work.

Coolbrith’s own poetry was noted for avoiding the trite sentimentality common to her era, instead favoring spontaneous, sympathetic descriptions of the natural world. Her influence was so profound that in 1915, the California legislature designated her the state’s poet laureate. She remains a singular figure in American letters, having navigated a life that spanned from the early Mormon settlements to the sophisticated cultural salons of the 20th century, all while keeping her complex family origins hidden from the public eye until after her death in 1928.

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