Frances Nimmo Greene (April 5, 1867 – December 9, 1937) was an American educator and author of novels, children's literature, and plays. She was the author of: King Arthur and his court, 1901, stories of chivalry for children; With spurs of gold, 1905, stories of chivalry for children written in collaboration with Dolly Kirk; My country's voice, 1917, for juveniles; America first, 1917, for juveniles; American ideals; a series of patriotic readers for children; a group of one act plays; and the following novels, Into the night, 1909; The Right of the Strongest, 1913; One clear call, 1914; and The devil to pay, 1917. Three of her novels were adapted into films, The Devil to Pay (1920), One Clear Call (1922), and The Right of the Strongest (1924). She also wrote more than 50 short stories which were published in newspapers and magazines of national repute. In addition, Greene organized the library division of the Alabama State Department of Archives and History.
Early life and education
Frances Nimmo Greene was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, April 5, 1867. Known to the public as "Dixie", she was raised in a historic plantation house, later known as the Jemison School building.
Her father, Thomas Finley Greene (1829–1905), was a clergyman, and her mother was Virginia F. Owen (1828–1905); they married in 1854. She was descended through her father from an old South Carolina family, and through her mother from Virginia ancestry. Her mother's family had literary tastes for several generations.
Greene had five older siblings: Annie (1855–1923), John (1857–1859), Kate (1859–1870), Robert (1862–1926), and Mary (1865–1918). The Greenes were a "literary" family from their nursery days. The siblings scribbled as children, and all, more or less, continued to write in later years, but Frances showed from the first her talent. She read widely, and she inherited from her mother a passionate love for Virginia and its history-a love that evolved significantly in her work.
Greene was educated at home by her mother and at the Tuscaloosa Female College, which she attended two years, leaving school at age of 16.
She removed to Birmingham with her parents after leaving school.
Career
Teacher and librarian
From Birmingham, Greene went with the family to Montgomery, Alabama, where she taught almost immediately after her school days. While teaching in a mining town in north Alabama, she conceived the idea of writing sketches for publication. Her first attempt, "Yankees in Dixie," was promptly accepted by the Philadelphia Times. Her talent was recognized from the beginning by editors, and their encouragement stimulated her desire to write. She contributed to that paper many letters on southern affairs. She also wrote for the Birmingham Age-Herald and other southern papers. Besides writing in prose, she sometimes wrote verse.
She taught for years, principally in Montgomery public schools. In 1906, while serving as principal of the Capitol Hill School, in Montgomery, Greene was named as temporary secretary of the Alabama State Department of Archives and History.
In 1907, she resigned as a teacher to become Assistant in charge of Library Extension, Department of Archives and History, in Montgomery, a position she held for one year. During that time, her enthusiastic spirit and vigorous personality roused a very necessary interest in the library conditions of the state. In recognition of her ability, she was elected secretary of the Alabama Library Association.
During 1911-12, she edited the woman's page of The Birmingham News, and the following year, became director of the Birmingham Public Library.
Author
She returned to Montgomery in 1913, and thereafter devoted her entire time to writing.
Greene's first novel, Into the Night, published by the Crowells, was a story of modern New Orleans, dealing with a Mafia mystery. It was her first sustained piece of fiction, and its success was immediate and flattering. Other novels, The Right of the Strongest, One Clear Call, The Devil to Pay, followed in quick succession, all published by Scribner's. All her fiction was popular. The field of the novel, limitless as it is, never engaged Greene's entire interest. It was only one phase of her literary expression. She also wrote books for young people" King Arthur's Court, and With Spurs of Gold.