author
Frances Leigh Williams
A Virginia writer with a gift for turning early American history into vivid narrative, she wrote biographies and historical works that explored figures and families from the colonial South to the age of ocean science. Her papers suggest a life closely connected to literary circles as well as careful historical research.
1 Audiobook
A Tour of Historic Richmond
by Frances Leigh Williams
About the author
Born in Richmond, Virginia, on March 20, 1909, Frances Leigh Williams was the daughter of Francis Deane and Mary Mason Williams. Archival records also note that she was a cousin of the novelist Ellen Glasgow, linking her to a well-known Virginia literary family.
Williams wrote narrative history and biography, including books on Matthew Fontaine Maury, Eliza Lucas Pinckney, and the Pinckney family of South Carolina. Her work shows a strong interest in American history, especially the South and the people who helped shape it.
She died in 1978. Her papers are preserved at Virginia Commonwealth University and include manuscripts of her major published works along with letters from Ellen Glasgow and Carl Van Vechten, offering a glimpse of both her writing process and her literary connections.