Author. She was an American author from Alabama who wrote at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. Born the daughter of Irish immigrants Thomas and Mary Henry, she had an early Roman Catholic education at the convent in Mobile, excelling in languages, and graduated from St. Joseph's College in Ettenberg, Maryland in 1877. Her mother's family descended from a former Huguenot officer of the French Army named Nugent, who took refuge in Ireland. Later in 1907, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from St. Joseph's College. Her first publication was "Drifting Leaves" in 1884. The next year, she married Francis Gildart Ruffin, Jr. on April 20, 1887. Her husband was the great-great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. The couple had one son and five daughters. Her husband died in 1902, and as a widow, she lived with her elderly parents as her youngest child was age six. For her income, she was a prolific short story writer, especially on Celtic subjects, along with lectures. Her publications included "Memories of Father Ryan-The Southern Poet and Priest" in 1899; John Gildart" in 1901, a 179-page story in verse; "The North Star" in 1907, a novel of the early Christianizing of Norway; and a mystery, "The Shield of Silence" in 1914. "Eden on the James," a story of the Jamestown settlement, was published as a series in several magazines. After publishing "The North Star," she was honored with a letter of congratulation from King Oscar II and Queen Sophie along with the Minister of Education of Norway. Her writings not only received recognition in Norway, but in Ireland and France. As a Roman Catholic, she was president of the Catholic Knights and Ladies of America, Branch No. 130. Although the cemetery plot number of her grave is documented, no grave marker is at the site.