Evelyn Magruder DeJarnette

Evelyn Magruder DeJarnette
"A woman of the century"
Born Evelyn May Magruder
March 4, 1842
Glenmore, Albemarle County, Virginia, U.S.
Died March, 1914
"Pine Forest", Spotsylvania County, Virginia, U.S.
Resting place "Pine Forest" private cemetery
Occupation author
Language English
Nationality American
Spouse
Elliott Hawes DeJarnette (m. 1864)

Evelyn Magruder DeJarnette (March 4, 1842 – March, 1914) was an American author, who wrote stories in African-American dialect.[1]

Early years and education

Evelyn May Magruder was born in Glenmore, Albemarle County, Virginia, March 4, 1842. She was the third child of Benjamin Henry and Maria Minon Magruder. Her father was a prominent Virginia lawyer and legislator, and in 1864, was elected to the Congress of the Confederate States. He was a great lover of good books and had a fine library. In the education of his ten children, he took a lively interest and an active part. Her mother was from one of the leading families of Piedmont, Virginia. Magruder led in early childhood a free and happy country life, until boarding schools claimed her for several terms. Then she became an accomplished young lady of "before the war days in Virginia." She was frequently, during her father's connection with the General Assembly, a visitor to Richmond, Virginia, where she enjoyed to the full the pleasant social gatherings of that city.[2]

Career

In 1864, she became the wife of Captain Elliott Hawes DeJarnette, whose ancestral home, "Pine Forest," in Spotsylvania County, Virginia became her future abode.[2]

In the home of her childhood, she had become impressed with a recognition of the heavy responsibilities of the ownership of slaves, and she had been the regular instructor of the young negroes on the plantation. Amid the cares attendant upon the mother of a family of eight children, she began her literary career, in 1870. Frank Leslie's Magazine, The Century Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, The Youth's Companion, and various newspapers accepted her contributions. In both prose and poetry she has given to future generations a glimpse of her country's old-time life and customs. Among these are her "Old Vote for Young Master" and "Out on A' Scurgeon."[3]

Death

She died March, 1914, Pine Forest, Spotsylvania County. Both are buried in the "Pine Forest" private cemetery.[1]

References

Attribution

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton.

Bibliography

  • Frost, May (Miller) (1954). De Jarnette and Allied Families in America (1699–1954).
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