Honoré Willsie Morrow

Honoré Willsie Morrow (, McCue; February 19, 1880 – April 12, 1940) was an American novelist and short story writer, as well as a magazine editor. Traveling to every state of the Union with her first husband, she used these experiences as background for her writing. Morrow is remembered for what became known as The Great Captain trilogy centered upon Abraham Lincoln: ''Forever Free'' (1927), ''With Malice Toward None'' (1928), and ''The Last Full Measure'' (1930). For five years, she served as the editor of ''The Delineator''.

Early life and education

Nora Bryant McCue was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, February 19, 1880. She was a descendant of New England pioneers of the West. Her parents were William Dunbar McCue (1846-1922) and Lillian Bryant Head (1852-1902). Her siblings were Philip, Helen, Cornelia, and Lydia. Her family most important possession was its library of choice books. Here, as a child, she read the masters of English literature.

Morrow received her collegiate training in the writing of English at the University of Wisconsin (BA, 1902), where she won a local reputation for her work on college magazines. While an upperclassman, Cedric, her Great Dane puppy, was a constant companion.

Career

On August 1, 1904, in Blooming Grove, Wisconsin, she married Henry Elmer Willsie (1868-1948), a mining engineer. There followed two years in the Arizona desert. The desert trip was supplemented by long periods in the mining districts, the mountains, and the Northwestern dairy region. She never placed a novel in a section unless it was intimately known to her.

Mr. Willsie hoped to become an inventor, while Mrs. Willsie was determined to become a novelist. Both felt that they needed the opportunities of the metropolis. About 1910, they came to New York City. Early on, she thought that her writing depended on inspiration; that she had to "write like made when that came", but could do nothing without it. Her husband encouraged her to keep a diary as a record of the work done each day. At first, it shocked her to discover how very little time -one, or two, or three hours- she actually spent in writing. She went on to recognize that through keeping a schedule for her writing, she could accomplish more. She was advised to send her stories to Theodore Dreiser and it was from him that she received her first words of encouragement. He offered her editorial work at a good salary, but Mrs. Willsie preferred to stick to her writing. Her first novel, ''The Heart of the Desert'', published in 1913 under the name "Honoré Willsie", won her immediate recognition.

Beginning in 1914 and for the next five years, she served as editor of ''The Delineator''. In 1915, she published ''Still Jim''. Morrow gave up executive work in 1919 to devote herself into fiction writing. Her other books included, ''Lydia of the Pines'', ''Benefits Forgot'', ''The Forbidden Trail'', ''The Enchanted Canyon'', ''Judith of Godless Valley'', ''The Exile of the Lariat'', ''The Devonshers'', and ''The Lost Speech of Abraham Lincoln''.

In addition to novels, Morrow wrote many short stories, of which "Fighting Blood" was selected for ''The World's Best Short Stories of 1925''. "The Lost Speech" was selected by Mrs. William B. Meloney as one of the best stories published in ''The Delineator'' in 1926. For ''Harper's Weekly'' and ''Collier's'', she wrote a number of special articles on the problems of divorce, immigration, and the Reclamation Service.

She divorced Henry in 1922. In New York City, on April 24, 1923, she married the publisher, William Morrow (1873-1931). She was the mother of four children, including Richard, Felicia, and Anne.

Later life

Widowed in 1931, Morrow removed to Brixham, Devon, England, where she lectured for the English Association. She lived her for eight years, her residence in High Brixham, named "Heathstones", having been created by the joining of two cottages. For six years, she served as president of the Brixham Literary and Debating Society.

In January 1940, she visited a sister in New Haven, Connecticut. Long ill, Honoré Morrow died at that city's Hospital of Saint Raphael on April 12, 1940. She was buried at Exeter Cemetery in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Selected works

Novels

* ''The Heart of the Desert'', 1913
* ''Still Jim'', 1915
* ''Lydia of the Pines''
* ''Benefits forgot; a story of Lincoln and mother love'', 1917
* ''The Forbidden Trail''
* ''The Enchanted Canyon''
* ''Judith of Godless Valley'', 1922
* ''The Exile of the Lariat''
* ''The Devonshers''
* ''The Lost Speech of Abraham Lincoln''
* ''Let the King Beware''
* ''Demon Daughter''
* The Great Captain trilogy
** ''Forever Free'', 1927
** ''With Malice Toward None'', 1928
** ''The Last Full Measure'', 1930

Short stories

* "Fighting Blood", 1925

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrow, Honore Willsie
1880 births
1940 deaths
People from Ottumwa, Iowa
University of Wisconsin alumni
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American women writers
American women novelists
American women short story writers
American magazine editors