Clark McMeekin

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Clark McMeekin was the joint pseudonym of authors Dorothy (Park) Clark (September 14, 1899 – June 23, 1983) and Isabel (McLennan) McMeekin (November 19, 1895 – September 4, 1973). They are known for a series of popular historical novels set in the state of Kentucky during the 19th century.

Background on authors[]

Clark was born Dorothy Park in Osceola, Iowa, the daughter of William Park and Eugenia (Dowden) Park.[1] She was educated at Randolph-Macon Women's College and Columbia University.[1] She married Edward Clark in 1923 and they had two daughters.[1] She died in Louisville, Kentucky.[1]

McMeekin was born Isabel McLennan in Louisville to Alexander McLennan and Rosa (Harbison) McLennan.[1] She was educated at Westover School and the University of Chicago.[1] In 1919, she worked at the Pine Mountain Settlement School, an experience that produced later echoes in her novels.[2] In 1921 she married Samuel H. McMeekin, who commanded an American Legion post in Louisville, and they had three children.[1][2] She died in Louisville.[1]

Writing career[]

Clark and McMeekin produced an assortment of mysteries, children's books, short stories, and poetry under their own names.[1] McMeekin's 1942 book Journey Cake received an award from the Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation.[2] They are best known, however, for the dozen historical novels that they co-wrote between 1940 and 1961.[1] Set in 19th century Kentucky, these books cross historical romance with action fiction, and their casts of characters mingle fictional with real historical personages.[1] Several are set during the Civil War.[1]

Old Kentucky Country (1957) was a nonfiction work commissioned by Erskine Caldwell for the American Folkways series.[3]

Books[]

  • Show Me a Land (1940)
  • Reckon with the River (1941)
  • Welcome Soldier! (1942)
  • Red Raskall (1943)
  • Show Me a Land (1940)
  • Black Moon (1945)
  • Gaudy's Ladies (1948)
  • City of the Flags (1950)
  • Room at the Inn (1953)
  • Tyrone of Kentucky (1954)
  • The October Fox (1956)
  • Old Kentucky Country (1957)
  • The Fairbrothers (1961)

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kleber, John E. "McMeekin, Clark". The Kentucky Encyclopedia, pp. 599-600.
  2. ^ a b c "Isabel McLennan McMeekin". Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections.
  3. ^ "Series: American Folkways". LibraryThing website.
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