Emma Garrison was born in Garrisonville, Virginia, December 25, 1833, a daughter of John R. (1804-1880) and Frances Garrison (1803-1884). She spent her girlhood days in Garrisonville but later, when she won a prize of $60 for a story published in The Dollar Newspaper, January II, 1860, she was announced as "an unknown author from Fredericksburg, Virginia." Apparently she did not live there, for in the same periodical, October 24, 1860, she had a poem, dated from Garrisonville. Her first serial, "Zaidee; or, The Ruby Cross," was begun in the issue for September 12, 1860.

She went to Washington, D. C. in the early 1860's, and while there met and married Nicholas W. Jones (December 9, 1833-December 26, 1919) some time late in 1862 or early in 1863.⁽¹⁾ She was writing voluminously about this time for Peterson's Magazine, The New York Ledger, and the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Some time afterwards she and her family returned to Garrisonville to live with her aged parents, and they were still there in 1882, for in January of that year, when she entered into a contract with Norman L. Munro to write only for The Family Story Viper for three years, her address was Garrisonville. In explanation of the appearance of one of her stories in a rival newspaper, she said that it was one which had been published previously under a pseudonym. Neither the pseudonym, the name of the story, nor the name of the rival publication was mentioned, but the pen name was apparently "E. G. Walraven,"⁽²⁾ the only nom de plune known to have been used by her.

After the death of Mrs. Jones' mother in 1884, she removed to a suburb of Washington and lived there several years, continually writing. Said Arthur Grissom⁽¹⁾ in 1888, "Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth receives $10,000 annually from the Ledger, and Mrs. Emma Garrison Jones and others are paid nearly as much by the Munros."

In the early 1880's she removed to Martinsburg, West Virginia, and thereafter made that her home. On February 2, 1898, while on a visit to her brother, John R. Garrison, in Washington, D. C., she died and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery beside her youngest son, Gwynn (1869-1886). She was survived by her husband, one son, and three daughters.

REFERENCES: Family Story Paper, IX, March 13, 1882, 4; XXV, March 19, 1898; data from grave stones in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington; personal communication from R. D. Fritter, Garrisonville, Va.

Waverley Library (quarto). No. 88

Notes

1	A story in the Dollar Newspaper, XXI, January 31, 1863, was signed with her maiden name, but a poem in the same paper on the death of her brother, F. H. Garrison, in the U. S. Army at Gallatin, Tennessee, January 2, 1863, appeared in the issue of February 25, 1863, and was signed Emma Garrison Jones. The item signed with her maiden name does not definitely fix her marriage after January 31, because it may have been in the publisher's hands for some time, but the marriage must have come between January 2 and February 25, 1863.
2	The author of "Little Golden; or, The Pride of the Family," a serial which began in The Family Story Paper, II, July 12, 1875, was given as "E. G. Walraven." "Wilful Goldie," by the author of "Little Golden" appeared in the issue of October 18, 1880, and was reprinted in volume XXVIII, October 20, 1900, as by Emma Garrison Jones. Further, "Deborah Darke," appearing November 20, 1882, was by Emma Garrison Jones, author of Little Golden and Wilful Goldie, and "The Missing Bride," appearing July 14, 1884, was also by Emma Garrison Jones, author of Little Golden.
3	Arthur Grissom, "Dip their Pens in Gore," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 12, 1888.