Mrs. Burton Harrison (1843–1920)

Constance Cary was born to a prominent Virginia family connected to the Jeffersons, Randolphs, and Lees. She was educated by a French governess and then at boarding school. She experienced the American Civil War as a young woman and served as a nurse for Confederate wounded soldiers in Manassas and Richmond. Around this time, she began to submit poems and stories to local newspapers and Southern magazines under the pen name "Refugitta." After the war, she toured Europe with her mother. In 1867, she married Burton Norvell Harrison, formerly private secretary to CSA president Jefferson Davis, and settled with him in New York City. She became a leader of New York society and a prolific author as Mrs. Burton Harrison. She produced short stories, articles, essays, children's books, plays and novels. Her autobiography, Recollections Grave and Gay, published in 1911, is considered a valuable account of life in that era.