Ellis Credle
| Ellis Credle | |
|---|---|
Ellis Credle
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| Born | August 18, 1902 Hyde County on Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, United States |
| Died | February 21, 1998 Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation | Writer and Illustrator |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Louisburg College |
| Genre | fiction |
| Notable works | Down Down the Mountain |
| Spouse | Charles de Kay Townsend |
| Children | Richard Fraser Townsend |
Ellis Credle (1902–1998) was the author of a number of books for children and young adults, some of which she also illustrated. Credle (which is pronounced "cradle") is best known as the creator of the acclaimed children's book Down Down the Mountain (1934) and other stories set in the South. While the most successful of her work has been called inspirational, some other stories were controversial for her depiction of African Americans.
Credle was raised in North Carolina, but broke into writing after years of struggle in New York City. She spent the last half of her long life residing in Mexico, where some of her later stories are set. Over the course of her career she had the opportunity to collaborate with her husband, who was a professional photographer, and with her son, who in time became a well-known archeologist.
Born and raised in what she called "the somber low country of North Carolina" in Hyde County on Pamlico Sound, Ellis Credle was the daughter of Zach and Bessie (Cooper) Credle. Her father was a soy bean planter. She said that although her home was far from any railroad and isolated by swamps and forests, she perceived herself at the time as being "right in the middle of things." Her childhood also included time spent on her grandfather's tobacco plantation; on North Carolina's coastal islands; and in the Appalachian Highlands. As an author, she later drew upon her early experiences in these regions when designing her characters and settings.
At the age of sixteen, she was admitted to Louisburg College, the same school her grandmother had attended during the Civil War. There she became editor-in-chief of the school literary magazine, "The Collegian". After graduating in 1922 she went to the Blue Ridge Mountains to teach history and French at the Forest City High School. She taught for two years. Unfortunately, she was very unhappy in this work, finding the country "majestic" but the work "uncongenial."
Within a short span of time, young Credle pursued a few different directions. By 1925 she was studying at the New York School of Interior Decoration; she soon decided that although this was an art, it was too much a business for her. She began taking courses in commercial art at the Art Students League and also attended the Beaux Arts Architectural Institute, but her funds ran low.
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