Katherine Anne Porter was one of those born writers, whose need for telling stories began in childhood when she made up interesting characters to populate her family's lineage. Her vivid imagination allowed her to create a history of early pioneers, Southern gentry, and brave explorers, whose blood, she wanted to believe, coursed through her veins.

Porter, however, was not born on a Southern plantation to an aristocratic family, as she often claimed even well into adulthood; rather, she was born in a two-room log cabin in Indian Creek, Texas, on May 15, 1890, to a family that struggled to keep food on the table. Her birth name was Callie Russell Porter—she adopted the name Katherine Anne later in life. She often claimed to be related to Daniel Boone, her father, Harrison Boone Porter, having fed her these tales; but even after extensive research, Porter never found...