author
Mary L. (Mary Lynn) Williamson
1850–1923
A Virginia writer and teacher, she is remembered for clear, school-friendly biographies that introduced young readers to major figures from American history. Her books on Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart show how strongly late-19th- and early-20th-century history writing could be shaped for children.
3 Audiobooks
The Life of Gen. Thos. J. Jackson, "Stonewall" For the Young (Fourth Reader Grade), in Easy Words
by Mary L. (Mary Lynn) Williamson
Life of J. E. B. Stuart
by Mary L. (Mary Lynn) Williamson
The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee, for Children, in Easy Words
by Mary L. (Mary Lynn) Williamson
About the author
Mary L. Williamson, also listed as Mary Lynn Williamson and Mary Lynn Harrison Williamson, was an American author born in 1850 and died in 1923. Surviving catalog and library records connect her with Virginia and show that she wrote short historical biographies for younger readers.
Her best-known books include The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee, for Children, in Easy Words (published in Richmond in 1895), The Life of Gen. Thos. J. Jackson, "Stonewall", and Life of J. E. B. Stuart. Project Gutenberg and other library sources also note the alias "Harrison, Minnie Lynn," suggesting she published or was cataloged under more than one form of her name.
Very little easily confirmed biographical detail about her life survives online, but her work clearly belongs to a tradition of educational history writing meant for classrooms and young readers. Today, she is mainly remembered through digital-library editions of her books and through readers interested in older children's biographies of American historical figures.