EVELYN MAGRUDER DE JARNETTE
DE JARNETTE, Mrs. Evelyn Magruder, author, born in Glenmore, Albemarle county, Va., 4th March, 1842. She is 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 Confederate Congress. 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, Va. Evelyn May 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, where she enjoyed to the full the pleasant social gatherings of that city. In 1864 Miss Magruder became the wife of Captain Elliott H. De Jarnette, whose ancestral home, "Pine Forest," in Spottsylvania county, became her future abode. 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," the "Atlantic Monthly." "Youths' Companion" and various newspapers have 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."