GLH Biographies

Grace Livingston Hill has been written about quite often through the years. While many of these books intended to get things right, that's not always the case. This list of biographies includes both complete biographies and books where Grace's life and work is featured as part of a larger work. Each title is followed by a brief synopsis and a list of items that were incorrectly reported within its pages.

Biographies

Grace Livingston Hill: Her Story and Her Writings by Jean Karr - 1948

This book was written just after Grace's death. It uses a very detached style, more like a newspaper or book report. It has some great photos that are not found in later books.

Errors in this book:

* Grace's father was not exclusively a Presbyterian Minister. The church he was pastoring when she was born was a Congregational church. This is confirmed by the official records of the many churches that Rev. Charles Livingston served. Karr implies that Livingston's ministry caused conflict and led to many moves causing hardship for his family, but all the information we find says just the opposite, including published accounts of his transfers. He was often ill and the church accounts I've found speak highly of the family and of the souls they affected and how much they will be missed. This myth is perpetuated in many of the subsequent biographies.

* Karr writes that "The Story of a Whim" grew from Grace's "visits" to Florida as a young girl, but she actually lived there and taught physical education at Rollins College in Winter Park.

* Karr dates Grace's second marriage (to F.J. Lutz) as 1916, but they were married in 1904.

* He talks about Grace's views on the movies, but neglects to mention that several of her books made their way to the silver screen!

* Karr places her grave in Jamestown, but it's actually in Johnstown, NY.



Grace Livingston Hill: The life story of one of America's best-loved writers, as told by her grandson
Robert Munce - 1986

This book, written by Grace's grandson with help from his mother, Ruth, is full of family stories and photos. It's an awesome book written by the members of an awesome family!

Errors in this book:

* Mr. Munce writes that the Livingstons' first child (a son, Percy) was born in 1863 and lived only one day. This is incorrect. Percy's gravestone in the Johnstown Cemetery indicates that he died in 1860. Some sources list his birthdate as 5/28/1859 and his death as 10/26/1860, making him just over one year old.

*Grace's first book, "The Esselstynes", was not produced as a single gift copy as originally thought. Since the publication of the Munce biography, several more copies of this rare treasure have been located and the story also appears in two of the Pansy Books, "Mothers' Boys and Girls" and "Getting Ahead". Grace's story was used for this children's book as a surprise to her, but the author in the front of the book is listed as "Pansy". It's only in the final pages that the true identity of the author is revealed to be Grace!

* In the account of the writing of "The Girl from Montana", Mr. Munce says that Grace "had never been west of Pennsylvania". This is not strictly true. Grace spent some time in Ohio studying at the Cincinnati Art School. More accurately, Grace had never visited the western states.

* The book says that E.L. Henry drew "five or six pen and ink drawings" for the book "Marcia Schuyler", but he simply offered sketches of existing paintings that could be used for publication. These were of paintings Henry had already completed that he thought would fit the time period of the story. The paintings you see in the early editions were painted many years before Grace even learned about the family story. This mistake is quoted in Everett's biography. You can see these paintings at our companion site: E.L. Henry: Illustrations from the Marcia Schuyler Trilogy



Gracious Writer for God by Betty Steele Everett - 1997

This book is basically a retelling or paraphrase of Karr's and Munce's biographies. If you read them back to back, you'll notice the similarity.

Errors in this book:

* Grace's beloved Aunt, Isabella Macdonald Alden, is incorrectly called Isabelle.

* Ms. Everett writes that "Belle had gotten her own publisher to print and bind just one copy of The Esselstynes, especially for Grace." This is not true, as noted above. We know of several existing copies of this hard cover book.

* Rev. Livingston's death date is listed incorrectly.

* She speaks of "a little" insurance money following Rev. Frank Hill's death, but $3,000 was a lot of cash in 1899. By some inflation calculators, that's the same buying power as $83,000! She was able to move to Swarthmore and purchase a home after his death.

* The book seems to mix up the timeline in the changes of publishers, and seems to imply that Grace left Lippincott to publish "The Girl from Montana" with The Golden Rule Co. and then came back and then left again to publish "A Voice in the Wilderness" with Harper & Brothers. While she did leave Lippincott briefly for "creative differences", the Golden Rule books were part of her contract with CEW and had nothing to do with her problems with J.B. Lippincott.

* Everett calls biographer Jean Karr a woman, but Karr was a man, just check out the dust jacket of his biography of Grace.

* In her account of "Marcia Schuyler", the author writes as though Marcia and David actually existed, but they did not. Grace obviously took the last name "Spafford" from her mother's family (it was Grace's grandmother's maiden name) and "Schuyler" from the Livingston family tree. She loved to use family names for her characters, but these two are definitely fictional.


Biographical Sketch in the back of the Tyndale paperbacks:

 These few paragraphs are found in the back of Tyndale / Living Books paperbacks with a book list.

 Errors in this book:

*This sketch gives the wrong name for Grace's husband. His name is lsted as "Fred", but it was "Frank"—short for "Franklin".

*The year 1901 is depicted as a difficult year, but the deaths in Grace's family occurred earlier. Her husband, Frank, passed away in 1899 and her father in 1900.

*This account suggests that Grace's early books did not include the Gospel message. "It wasn't long before Grace was a well-known author, but she wanted to go beyond just entertaining her readers". This is completely untrue. Grace began her journey as a Christian author and the few early books that did not have a clearly evangelistic message may have been due to publisher's restraints. Once she became an established author, the publishers allowed her to write as she was led.

 Grace Livingston Hill featured in other books:

 
Grace Livingston Hill: A Checklist by Joanna Paulsen - 1981

This is just what it says—a booklet that lists GLH books published.

Errors in this book:

* "A Colonial Girl" was NOT written by Grace Livingston Hill. It was written by Grace Livingston Furniss and Abbey Sage Richardson. This has been confirmed with the Library of Congress, as well as original playbills.

* "The Christian Endeavor Hour with Light for the Leader" (1896) is missing from the list.

* "The Forgotten Friend" was first published as a booklet by the Congregational Christmas Offering Committee in 1916. It was accompanied by a full-color paper offering box.

* Grace's daughter, Ruth Livingston Hill, is incorrectly listed as Grace's sister.

* This list of books by Grace's mother, Mrs. C.M. Livingston, is incomplete.



Husbands and Wives by William J. Petersen - 1983
"He Could Be Impossible" - Grace Livingston Hill and Her Two Husbands

This book contains sketches of the marriages of noted Christian couples.

Errors in this book:

* Petersen states that Grace's father was "bullheaded" and that "His strong stands frequently precipitated church conflicts; in fact, the Livingstons seldom stayed long in any one parsonage." He implies that since they changed parishes a number of times that it was because of conflicts between Rev. Livingston and the churches he pastored. Church records from various sources (including the Presbyterian Historical Society) show nothing but love, respect, and admiration for the Livingstons. They also record that his health was often poor and throat problems caused him to leave more than one parish. In fact, he was sent to Florida on leave by his superiors in the hope that his health would improve with the change in climate.

* He writes that "Despite her abilities in writing and art, she ended up working as a physical education instructor at Rollins College in Florida". There was no "ended up" about it. The family moved to Florida and became involved in the community. Grace was not looking for employment at the college, nor anywhere. Since she was known to be very athletic, she was approached by the staff of the fledgling institution and decided to accept the offer. She was not paid a single penny—her work was service to God and community, pure and simple. She continued to write and her first book was published while she was living in Florida.

* He also says that after her husband's death in 1899, Grace thought "Perhaps if she wrote a full-length novel and had it published, it might ease some of the money pressures. So, she sat down at her typewriter and wrote a novel, calling it "The Story of a Whim"". This is not right. Grace had "A Daily Rate" published in 1900, which was very much a full-length novel. In 1902, "The Angel of His Presence" was published in a two-in-one volume with a story by another author and "An Unwilling Guest" was another full-length novel published that year."The Story of a Whim" wasn't published until 1903.

* Petersen writes that "her publisher suggested she try her hand at a historical novel". This is not the case. Her publisher up to this point had most frequently been "The Golden Rule Co.". She never published a novel with J.B. Lippincott until they accepted "Marcia Schuyler" for publication. It was actually a friend (who was a newspaper columnist) who suggested she try writing this type of novel..

* He states that Grace received $5,000 in insurance money following Frank's death, but Grace's grandson says it was $3,000.

* Events are out of order concerning Grace's move to Swarthmore following her husband's death in 1899 and her father's death. Petersen writes incorrectly that Grace considered moving from the parsonage to her parents' home, but then could not because her father died. Grace moved to a rented home in Swarthmore following Frank's death in 1899. Grace had already moved to Swarthmore when her father died in July 1900.

 
C.S. Lewis had a Wife by William J. Petersen - 1985
Meet Frank and Grace Livingston Hill

This book's section on Grace is nearly identical to Petersen's previous book (with the same errors listed above), but has an additional error..

Errors in this book:

* Petersen calls biographer Jean Karr a woman, but Karr was a man, according to the dust jacket of his biography of Grace.


100 Christian women Who Changed the 20th Century by Helen Kooiman Hosier - 2000
Section on Speaking, Writing - page 33

This book contains sketches of 100 women of God, including Grace. As noted in the endnotes, much of the material in this sketch is excerpted from Betty Steele Everett's book.

Errors in this sketch:

* The author's order of events makes it seem as though Grace wrote "A Chautauqua Idyl" after her husband died in 1899: "When her husband died suddenly, Grace decided to write to support herself. Her first novel, "A Chautauqua Idyl" (1887) was but the start of a long career..." The first novel published after her husband's death was "A Daily Rate" in 1900. Grace was already an established author by then with 8 books and countless articles and serials already published.



Old School Romance by Conrad V. Sucatre - 2005
Chapter Two - A Fresh Inspiration: Grace Livingston Hill

This book is quite interesting! I've talked with the author and it's a shame he didn't find our website before publishing his book. He truly enjoyed the GLH books he read in his research.

Errors in this book:

* Mr. Sucatre states that "she never created or exhibited art", but that's not true. In addition to artwork and sketches she did strictly for her own pleasure, Grace was a talented chalk artist and used her talents to illustrate lessons and sermons as they were being preached.

* He states that "she dropped from the literary scene to start a family." Grace had four novels published during her first marriage, as well as writing a two-book set, "The Christian Endeavor Hour with Light for the Leader" with her husband, Rev. T.G.F. Hill.

* It's easy to see (and he admits) that he hasn't read all of Grace's books. The book says that "there were no counts, earls, governesses, or reclusive millionaires lurking around to gum up her storylines." Not strictly true, since there were quite a few millionaires lurking. One example would be the Van Rensselaers in "A New Name". As most GLH fans know, sudden inheritance of money or marriage to someone with large amounts of money is a frequent plot point.

* He also refers to "dime novel" cowboy books and Grace's books with western settings stating, "I strongly suspect that's where she got her information on the old west". Grace abhorred dime novels! She advertised her need for descriptions of western life and she got her information through correspondence with a young woman who lived in the west, Miss Virginia Cowan of Cowan, Montana.

* Writing again about Grace's everyday life, he says she "drove to speaking engagements in a large automobile", but Grace did not drive. She did own two cars over the years and they were large, but she was only a back-seat driver.

* He calls "Lutz" a pseudonym of sorts, saying that "According to some accounts, she used the name Lutz for a few novels." Actually, her husband at the time insisted that she use his name. It was later dropped when they parted ways. Sucatre also says that "another pseudonym she liked to bandy about was "Marcia Macdonald". This was her mother's maiden name and was used on a series of "Novels for Girls" which were published at the same time as her mainstream novels.



Romancing God: Evangelical Women and Inspirational Fiction by Lynn S. Neal - 2006
References to Grace and her work appear throughout this book and are listed in its index.

Errors in this book:

* None so far. I look forward to reading more of this book.



Did we miss any? Please email us if you know of another book featuring Grace Livingston Hill.