Sara Agnes Rice Pryor (1830–1912)

Sara Rice was born into the large family of a Baptist preacher. She was adopted by a childless aunt and uncle and educated by them with tutors from the University of Virginia. In 1848, she married Roger A. Pryor, a lawyer and journalist from Virginia, with whom she had seven children. Sara's husband was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1859, but resigned his seat at the outbreak of the Civil War. He joined the Confederate army, and Sara traveled with his company and served as a nurse. After the war, the family moved to New York City to repair their finances. There Sara Rice Pryor enjoyed an active social life, worked for charities and fraternal organizations, and published books. Her works included romantic novels set in the antebellum South, two histories of colonial America, and two memoirs, including My Day: Reminiscences of a Long Life (1909), a rich source of information for historians and scholars of the war years.