Frances Tiernan

Frances Tiernan (, Fisher; pen name, Christian Reid; July 5, 1846 – March 24, 1920) was an American author who wrote more than 50 novels, most notably The Land of the Sky. Reared as a Roman Catholic, she grew up in the Southern United States.

In 1870, she published her first novel, Valerie Aylmer. In the following year, she published in Appletons' Journal a novel entitled Morton House, a story of Southern life. Even after publishing nearly 50 novels, she considered this her best work.

In 1887, she married James M. Tiernan, of Maryland. She accompanied him to Mexico where he had mining interests. There, she collected material for her novel, The Land of the Sun. She also wrote several short stories set in Mexico, notably The Pictures of Las Cruces, which appeared in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, and which was translated and published in L'Illustration of Paris. After her husband's death in 1898, Tiernan made her home in New York City before returning to the family home in Salisbury in which she was born. Though she never claimed to be a poet, some of her verses were published.

In 1909, Tiernan was awarded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. This medal is given annually to a lay member of the Catholic Church for distinguished services in literature, art, science, or philosophy. Tiernan was the first Southerner to be awarded the medal.

Early years and education Frances Christine Fisher was born the third of three children in Salisbury, North Carolina. Her parents were Colonel Charles Frederick Fisher and his wife, the former Elizabeth Clarissa Caldwell. She was a cousin of Elizabeth Brownrigg Henderson Cotten and Archibald Henderson. Her mother had converted to Catholicism and raised Frances in that faith; her father was an Episcopalian. Colonel Fisher was killed in the beginning of the American Civil War at the battle of Manassas. Frances remained loyal to Confederate ideals all her life. The Fisher family was rich and lived at the northwest corner of Fulton and Innes streets in Salisbury, but lost much of its money due to the war.

A distinct accession of power and increased mastery of style marked the works of Christian Reid's second period of literary activity, beginning after her return from Europe in 1880. Heart of Steel was a work approximating that of the standard English novelists, such as Anthony Trollope, in solidity of workmanship and concentration of purpose. Other works of this period were Armine, Roslyn's Fortune, The Child of Mary, Philip's Restitution, and Miss Churchill. Others described it as being striking in its naturalness and truthfulness. One biography said "There is in her fiction an over-reliance on the picturesque that was popular in the years following the Civil War. Yet, her work stands apart from the many narratives of travel in Appalachia in its honest and realistic portrait of life in southern society." At the time, she had published some 30 novels and numerous short stories, and was living with her aunt, Christine Fisher. It was the first time the medal was awarded to a Southerner.

She had married James Marquis Tiernan on December 29, 1887, and they moved to Mexico where he had mining interests. (He died January 1898.) At first the widowed Fisher Tiernan continued to live in New York, but decided to return to Salisbury, where she lived in her family house.

Tiernan died March 24, 1920, in Salisbury. She is buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in the Fisher family plot. Because a fire destroyed some cemetery records in the 1930s, it is not certain which family member is buried where. In 2006, the entire family plot was enclosed by a brick wall, with materials and labor donated by the owners of Taylor Clay Products. A pink granite bench was added and a granite cross was restored.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a monument to Fisher Tiernan in 1939 on West Innes Street in Salisbury. It was moved in 1955 and again in 1983, this time to the site of the Rowan Public Library. Fisher had donated money for the Confederate Monument in Salisbury partly from the money she made from The Land of the Sky.

Selected works

A new Enoch Arden, n.d. The land of the sun: vistas mexicanas Gloria victis 1870-78, Short stories 1873, Carmen's inheritance 1873, Nina's atonement: a story in six chapters 1875, The story of a conspiracy 1877, The mountain-region of North Carolina 1877, A fairlyland of science 1878, Striking the Flag! or, Valerie Aylmer. A Novel. 1884, Armine 1887, His victory 1885, A child of Mary 1888, Grace Morton; or, The inheritance, a Catholic tale 1890, Philip's Restitution. 1890, A cast for fortune : a story of Mexican life 1891, A gentle belle. A novel. 1891, Carmela 1893, A little maid of Arcady 1893, A comedy of elopement 1893, Hearts and hands. A story in sixteen chapters 1894, Le tableau de Las Cruces: roman 1894, Kartina Vali︠a︡sket︠s︡a [sic] 1894, The land of the sun: vistas mexicanas 1895, Mabel Lee. A novel. 1895, A summer idyl 1895, Obraz w Las Cruces 1895, The lady of Las Cruces 1878, Bonny Kate : a novel 1896, A woman of fortune 1897, Fairy gold 1898, The chase of an heiress 1899, Ebb-tide, and other stories 1900, To the Confederate veterans, who so nobly did their duty during the late unpleasantness between the states ... 1900, Under the southern cross. A war drama in four acts. 1900, Miss Churchill; a study. 190?, Philip's restitution 1873, Nina's atonement : and other stories 1907, Véra's charge 1907, Princess Nadine 1909, The coin of sacrifice 1909, Weighed in the balance 1911, Cords of nature and In Miss Felicia's garden 1910, Heart of steel; a novel 1911, The light of the vision 1911, The Wargrave trust 1914, The testing of Isabel 1914, A Far-away Princess 1915, Noël : a Christmas story 1920, The daughter of a star 1903, A daughter of the Sierra