Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

Amelia Barr, writer, daughter of William Henry and Mary (Singleton) Huddleston, was born in Ulverston, Lancashire, England, on March 29, 1831. Her father was a Methodist minister. She was educated in music and literature and taught in a girls' school before she married Robert Barr, an accountant, of Glasgow. After Barr lost his fortune, the couple sailed for America. They lived briefly in Chicago and Memphis and in 1856 settled in Austin, Texas, where Barr found employment as an auditor for the state of Texas. During the ten years in which Austin was their home, Amelia Barr took an active part in the social life of the frontier capital and wrote in her diary vivid pictures of many Texans and local events and scenes. Her reputation as a novelist was firmly established with the publication in 1885 of Jan Vedder's Wife . Remember the Alamo, the novel for which Texans know her best, was published in 1888. From 1885 to 1911 a single firm published forty-two novels by Amelia Barr. Other publishers launched additional books, and countless shorter pieces flowed from her pen. Her literary success brought her comfort, security, and considerable means, as well as fame. Mrs. Barr died in New York on March 10, 1919, and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

From: Adams, Paul. “Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston.” In Handbook of Texas Online , http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fba75.html (accessed April 2008).