Eliza Frances Andrews

Eliza Frances Andrews (August 10, 1840 - January 21, 1931) was a popular American writer of the Gilded Age. Her shorter works were published in popular magazines and papers, including the New York World and Godey's Lady's Book. Her longer works include The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl (1908) and two botany textbooks.

Andrews gained fame in the fields of literature, education, and science, and had success both as an essayist and a novelist. Financial difficulties led her to begin teaching after the deaths of her parents, though she continued to publish her writing. In her retirement, she published two textbooks on botany entitled Botany All the Year Round and Practical Botany, the latter of which became popular in Europe and was translated for schools in France.

Early life

Eliza Frances "Fanny" Andrews was born on August 10, 1840, in Washington, Georgia, the second daughter of Annulet Ball and Garnett Andrews, a judge in Georgia's Superior Courts. Her father was a lawyer, judge, and plantation owner, possessing around two hundred enslaved people. Andrews grew up on the family estate, Haywood, the name of which she would later use in a pseudonym, "Elzey Hay". attended the local Ladies' Seminary school, and later graduated among the first class of students from LaGrange Female College in 1857. She was well-versed in literature, music, and the arts, and was conversant in both French and Latin. Upon graduating, Andrews returned home to live with her father. Around this time Southern states began to secede from the Union. Though her father was outspoken against secession, three of Andrews' brothers enlisted in the Confederate States Army. Andrews and her sisters also supported the Confederacy.