Margaret Horton Potter

Margaret Horton Potter (pseudonym, Robert Dolly Williams; May 20, 1881[1] – December 22, 1911) was an American novelist, specializing in historical fiction. Her first novel, A Social Lion, was published while she was still a teenager.

Photo portrait published 1904

Early life

Potter was born in Chicago, Illinois,[1] the daughter of Orrin Woodard Potter (1836–1907), a wealthy steel manufacturer,[2] and Ellen Owen Potter, who was active in women's clubs.[3] She was educated at a local prep school and "pursued advanced studies under a private tutor".[1]

Career

Potter was a teenager when R. R. Donnelley and Sons published her novel A Social Lion (1899),[4] under the pseudonym Robert Dolly Williams.[5][6] It features a wealthy Chicago writer who "lives in fear ... that a past alliance will be discovered and bring him social disgrace."[5] Modeled on actual people and events in Chicago society, it was considered such a scandalous tale that her family tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent its publication.[7]

Her other novels include Uncanonized: A Romance of English Monachism (1900); The House of de Mailly: A Romance (1901); Istar of Babylon: A Phantasy (1902); The Castle of Twilight (1903); The Flame-Gatherers (1904); The Fire of Spring (1905); The Genius (1906); The Princess (1907); and The Golden Ladder (1908).[8] Most of them are historical fiction, with romance plots and exotic settings for American readers,[9][10] though A Social Lion and The Golden Ladder are set in Chicago.[5] There are fantasy elements in some of her novels, such as supernatural characters (the title character in Istar of Babylon is the goddess Ishtar) and the transmigrated souls in The Flame-Gatherers.[11]

Potter also wrote short stories and poems that appeared in Harper's Magazine.[12] She and Wallace Rice co-wrote The Devil's Choice, a play that was produced in Chicago in 1909.[13]

Personal life

Potter married lawyer John Donald Black (son of John C. Black) on January 1, 1902.[1][14] In about 1905, she became addicted to morphine.[15] In May 1910 she was declared mentally incompetent due to chronic alcoholism and morphine addiction[16] and institutionalized.[17] After her release, her husband divorced her for "habitual drunkenness".[18] She died from a morphine overdose, ruled accidental,[19] in 1911, aged 30 years.[20]

References
  1. Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown, eds., The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans (Biographical Society, 1904): 1903.
  2. "Orrin W. Potter Stricken". Chicago Tribune (May 15, 1907): 9.
  3. "Mrs. Orrin W. Potter Dies at Lake Geneva". Los Angeles Herald (June 21, 1904).
  4. "A social lion". Library of Congress. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  5. James A. Kaser, The Chicago of Fiction: A Resource Guide (Scarecrow Press 2011): 290.
  6. "A social lion". WorldCat.
  7. "Wife in Asylum Is Divorce Defendant". Inter Ocean (October 6, 1910): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  8. "Online Books by Margaret Horton Potter". The Online Books Page.
  9. "Margaret Horton Potter". The Bookseller (September 1903): 316.
  10. "The Stage Setting and Some Recent Books". The Bookman (May 1906): 281.
  11. "Good Books for Summer Reading". Book News 22 (June 1904): 1053–54.
  12. "Margaret Horton Potter: From This Author". Harper's Magazine (harpers.org).
  13. "In the Theaters". Chicago Daily Tribune (May 4, 1909): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  14. "Margaret Horton Potter, Authoress, Who Vowed Never to Wed, Is Now Mrs. J. D. Black". Boston Post (January 9, 1902): 9. via Newspapers.comopen access
  15. "Tells of Authoress's Struggle with Drug". Pittsburgh Sunday Post (December 24, 1911): 2. via Newspapers.comopen access
  16. "Margaret Black Is Insane". Chicago Tribune (May 6, 1910): 3. via Newspapers.comopen access
  17. "A Woman Novelist Insane". Kansas City Times (May 6, 1910): 1. via Newspapers.comopen access
  18. "Would Divorce Novelist". New York Times (October 6, 1910).
  19. "Chicago Authoress Is Morphine Victim". Indianapolis Star (December 23, 1910: 5. via Newspapers.comopen access
  20. "Drug Kills Noted Novelist". The Gazette Times, Pittsburgh (December 23, 1911): 10.
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