Mary Johnston, leading historical novelist, was born at Buchanan, Boutetourt County, Virginia. Her father, Maj. John William Johnston, had served under his cousin, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, during the Civil War. Later he functioned as lawyer, state legislator, and railroad president. Her mother was Elizabeth Alexander Johnston. Both parents were of Scottish or Scotch-Irish ancestry. Mary Johnston was the eldest of six children, of whom the fourth and fifth were boys. Her education was largely through tutors and extensive reading, and what had been intended as a longer sojourn at a school in Atlanta was cut short by illness.

When she was sixteen, her father's business connections took the family to Birmingham, and in 1889 her mother's death left Johnston in charge of the household. She also accompanied her grief-stricken father on a trip to Europe. Between 1892 and 1896 the family lived in New York, and Johnston's first novel, Prisoners...