E. S. (Ethel Smith) Dorrance

Born in 1880, E. S. Dorrance was Ethel Smith Dorrance, an American author whose name appears on a long list of early 20th-century novels. Project Gutenberg identifies her as the co-author of Lonesome Town and gives her full name and birth year as "Dorrance, E. S. (Ethel Smith), 1880-."

She wrote popular fiction in several familiar commercial genres of her day, especially western and adventure-flavored stories, and she also collaborated with James French Dorrance. Surviving listings for their books show the pair working together on titles such as Lonesome Town, Rim o' the Range, and Touching Cloud.

Even where biographical details are scarce, her published work suggests a writer deeply involved in the fast-moving fiction market of the era: accessible, plot-driven novels meant to entertain a broad readership. That makes her a representative figure of the many hardworking authors whose stories filled bookstores, lending libraries, and magazines in the early 1900s.