Brief biographies from American history, for the fifth and sixth grades

Edna Henry Lee Turpin

Edna Henry Lee Turpin (1867–1952) was an American author. She was born on July 26, 1867, at Echo Hill, Mecklenburg County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Edward Henry Turpin and Petronella Lee Turpin, but her father died of tuberculosis four months before she was born. Two siblings, Mary Wilson Turpin and Edward Henry Turpin both died in infancy before Edna was born. She spent her childhood on the family farm with her mother and her older brother, Henderson Lee Turpin (1861–1957). She began writing at an early age and, during her fifteenth year, her first short story was accepted for publication.