Born: 24 January 1850, United States
Died: 31 July 1923
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Charles Egbert Craddock
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Mary Noailles Murfree, an American novelist, born in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Under the pen-name of Charles Egbert Craddock, she became widely known for her graphic studies of the life and people of the Tennessee mountains. The dramatic quality of her stories is such that for years they were supposed to be the work of a man.
The freshness and fidelity of Miss Murfree’s work, and her complete familiarity with her subjects, has given her a high place among the Southern writers of her generation.
Among her novels are: The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, In the ‘Stranger People’s’ Country, The Bushwhackers, The Champion, etc.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Mary N. Murfree (Pen name Charles Egbert Craddock), The Novelist of Southern Life, 1850 – 1922 A.D.
Miss Murfree is a Southerner, and, as a portrayer of Southern life and scenery, she occupies a unique place.
Her early sketches were published in the Atlantic Monthly and met with immediate success. She had opened up a new field and people read her stories, In the Tennessee Mountains, with great relish.
“The everlasting hills, calmly observant human vicissitudes, form a harmonious background for her wild, pathetic, and tragic scenes. The mountaineers whom she portrays are taciturn, serious, secret race, with few ideas, but tenacious of those they have. Her men are stern and rude; her women are reserved, undemonstrative, lacking in feminine grace and charm, but unalterable, both in their loves and their hates. This strange people, with the uncompromising speech, their peculiar dialect, their rugged, natural environment, form an unfamiliar and powerful picture.”
The following are the names of some of her works: Where the Battle was Fought, In the Clouds, The Story of Keedon Bluffs, The Despot of Broomsedge Cove, The Stranger People’s Country, The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountain.
Even Miss Murfree’s publishers supposed that they were dealing with a man and were gently surprised when she visited Boston and called upon them. Her writings have all the vigor of a masculine mind and at the same time show the keen insight of a woman.