Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham

Mary Oates Spratt Van Landingham (September 14, 1852 – December 24, 1937) was an American civic leader, writer, and historian. She was a prominent figure in the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as North Carolina's state regent from 1907 to 1910 and as a Vice President General of the national society from 1913 to 1914. She also served as vice president of the North Carolina branch of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. She wrote historical and literary pieces for local newspapers and, in 1922, she published a collection of her works under the title Glowing Embers.

Early life Van Landingham was born Mary Oates Spratt on September 14, 1852 in Charlotte, North Carolina to Charles Elms Spratt and Margaret Lowery Oates Spratt. She was a descendant of multiple colonial and Revolutionary ancestors. That same year, she became the first woman to address the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association when she presented her paper The Encouragement of Art as an Aid to History and Literature. The family lived at 500 East Avenue in Charlotte.

Van Landingham died on December 24 1937, two weeks after suffering a stroke.