Faded mauve patterned cloth binding with black title plate and gilt lettering on the spine.

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General William Barton and Captain Stephen Olney centre in William’s work called The Biography of Revolutionary Heroes

Catharine R. Williams (December 31, 1787 – October 11, 1872) was a Rhode Island writer and poet and a leading figure in the Dorr Rebellion in support of universal suffrage. In 2002, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Prompted by friends, she published a volume called Original Poems in 1828. After its warm reception, she began writing again and published a prose story, “Religion at Home” in 1829, followed by a collection of stories called Tales, National and Revolutionary in 1830. Williams completed Aristocracy, a satirical novel, which was published in 1832 and then the History of Fall River the following year. In 1835, she issued a second series of Tales.  Williams then penned the biographies of General William Barton and Captain Stephen Olney in a work called The Biography of Revolutionary Heroes, which was issued in 1839. The following year, she travelled through the British provinces collecting materials for a book, Neutral French: The Exiles of Nova Scotia which was published in 1841. Williams believed that her work had inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write his epic poem on the Acadians, Evangeline (1847); though others claim it was Nathaniel Hawthorne who gave Longfellow the idea.  Williams’ last works were called the Annals of the Aristocracy of Rhode Island, published in two volumes. The first appeared in 1843 and the last was published in 1845. Afterward, she lived on the proceeds of her earlier twelve works.