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A descendant of French Huguenots herself, Annie Raymond Stillman (1855-1922), niece of Charles A. Stillman (see below), and parishioner of Thomas Smyth (also see below), was the author of a noted work of historical fiction titled How They Kept the Faith: A Tale of the Huguenots of Languedoc (1889, 1899), a book which was republished by Inheritance Publications in the 1990s as part of their Huguenot Inheritance Series.
Biographical sketches of Miss Annie (she never married, and wrote under the pseudonym “Grace Raymond”) appear in Mary D. Irvine and Alice L. Eastwood, Pioneer Women of the Presbyterian Church, United States (1923) and Margaret A. Gist, Presbyterian Women of South Carolina (1929). The latter work is not yet available at Log College Press, but we can quote a portion concerning Miss Annie.
ANNIE RAYMOND STILLMAN OR “GRACE RAYMOND”
Any history of the outstanding women of Charleston Presbyterial is incomplete without some mention, however brief, of the author of “How They Kept the Faith.” The daughter of Alfred Raymond Stillman and Amelia H. Badeau, Anne Raymond Stillman was born on January 25, 1855, in Charleston and in the congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church, of which her father was an elder. During the latter part of the Confederate War the family refugeed in Summerville, but Miss Stillman received her education at the Memminger Normal School of Charleston, from which she was graduated in 1870.
Miss Stillman had begun to write before that time, but her first published work was a memorial poem to her pastor, Dr. Thomas Smyth, in 1873. After that many of her poems and children’s stories were written for the “Southern Presbyterian", always under the name “Grace Raymond”, while she wrote the Charleston “News and Courier” a story of the Confederate War called “Palm and Pine.” Her mother, through whom came Miss Stillman’s Huguenot blood and spirit, suggested the book which brought her into prominence as an author. “How They Kept the Faith” is an important contribution to the history of the martyred Huguenots and of Christianity. Mrs. Stillman also instilled in her daughter an enthusiasm for Foreign Missions.
The gradual failure of Miss Stillman’s sight delayed the completion of her book and prevented all reading, but it never was allowed to cloud her cheerful spirit or her heavenly vision. No photograph of her is available, but none who knew her in youth may forget that exquisite regular profile, the blond hair brought down, madonna-wise, on each side of the delicate face, the eyes veiled against the light, and the intent interest in sermon or talk.
Miss Stillman later resided in Tuscaloosa, near the institute founded by her distinguished uncle, Dr. Charles Stillman, but as with all good Charlestonians, her heart lived in Charleston and Charleston was the better for it. She lies with her people in the old burying-ground in the shadow of Second Church.
If you are seeking edifying and inspirational historical fiction to read, which begins with a poetic tribute to the author’s mother and the heroic Christians from whom she was descended, the story of two Huguenot families in 17th century France, is a good choice for readers young and old and can be read online here.
