Emma Payne Erskine (May 10, 1854 – March 4, 1924)The Polk County News: "Funeral Service For Mrs. Corwin Held Today"
/ref> was the author of several works of fiction around the turn of the 20th century, such as ''The Eye of Dread''eText: "The Eye Of Dread"
/ref> and ''The Mountain Girl''.eText: "The Mountain Girl"
/ref> She usually had a strong heroine figure, and her writing has been described as "genuinely American in feeling and treatment."Chicago Tribune: Archives: "Among The New Books"
/ref> A popular writer of her genre during her time, her romance novel, ''The Mountain Girl'', was a leading story in ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'' shortly after it was published.The Pittsburgh Press: "Pittsburg Buildings in Magazine Review"
/ref>

Early life

In 1854, Erskine was born in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

, to Alfred Payne and Olive Child. Alfred was an artist, which may have led to her portrayal of her main character's father in ''The Eye of Dread'' as an artist. She seems to have let her personal life affect the characters and events in her stories quite often, actually. It is possible and likely that her childhood at the brunt of the United States Civil War affected her creation of certain stories which take place at that same time. Being of both English and prominently American ancestry, her stories, such as ''The Mountain Girl'', seem to attempt to draw the two cultures together.

Marriage and adult life

She married in 1873 to Charles Edwin Erskine and had six children with him. His father Massena Erskine was a partner in the J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company. However, in 1908, Charles died. In 1917, just less than ten years after her first husband's death, she married again to Cecil Corwin from New York City, a lifelong friend of hers and an early mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.Robert C. Twombly. ''Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture''. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 1987. Pp. 24–5. Throughout her life she was a strong Christian and a patriot. She commonly defended her country's ideals and busied herself with the issues of her nation. She wrote, in total, ten works of fiction, mostly American themed and taking place in North Carolina.

Death

She died in 1924, a resident of the town of Tryon, North Carolina. She had taken a journey shortly before her death to a convention for peace in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, Payne 19th-century American novelists 1854 births 1924 deaths 20th-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 19th-century American women writers People from Tryon, North Carolina People from Racine, Wisconsin