Mary Virginia Terhune
ca. 1831= ——.
Mrs. Terhune, better known as “Marion Harland,” was born in Amelia County, Virginia, where her father, Samuel P. Hawes, a merchant from Massachusetts, had made his home. She began writing at the early age of fourteen. In 1856, she was married to Rev. E. P. Terhune and since 1859 has lived in the North. Her novels, dealing chiefly with Southern life, are very popular and have made her well known North and South. “The Story of Mary Washington” was written in order to aid the enterprise for a monument to the mother of Washington, which was happily consummated May 10, 1894, by its unveiling at Fredericksburg, on which occasion Mrs. Terhune was present, an honored guest.