Frances Boyd Calhoun

Born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, on December 25, 1867, she moved with her family to Covington, Tennessee, in 1880. She studied at Tipton Female Academy, won a scholarship for graduating with highest honors, and went on to teach there before later working with her father on his newspaper.

She married physician Lucius Eugene Calhoun in 1896. After his death in 1904, she continued writing, and her best-known book, Miss Minerva and William Green Hill, appeared in 1909. The story became a lasting success and inspired later sequels and adaptations.

She died on June 8, 1909, only a few months after the book's publication. Though her life was brief, her best-loved novel kept its audience for generations and remains the work most closely associated with her name.