Marah Ellis Ryan

That Girl Montana ANNOTATED Marah Ellis Ryan

BiographyRyan was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania to Graham and Sidney Mechling Martin. She started her career under the pen name of Ellis Martin, writing a few poems and stories. She married Samuel Erwin Ryan (b. 1834), an Irish actor and comedian, in 1883. She became a popular author, writing numerous novels during the period 1889-1925. Around 1909, she went to live among the Hopi in Arizona. According to The New York Times, Ryan "claimed to be the only white woman ever admitted to the secret religious rites. She was noted as an authority on the tribal life of the Indians in the United States and Mexico."She died in Los Angeles of encephalitis at the age of 68. Marah Ellis Ryan (1860/1866-1934) was a popular author, actress and activist for Native Americans at the turn of the 20th century. She was born in Butler County, Pa. As a young woman she wrote a few poems and stories under the pen-name of "Ellis Martin. " In 1883 she married Samuel Erwin Ryan of New York, an actor. In 1909 she went to live among the Hopi Indians. She claimed to be the only white woman ever admitted to the secret religious rites. She was noted as an authority on the tribal life of the Indians in the United States and Mexico. Among the many books by Mrs. Ryan issued over a period of thirty- six years, 1889-1925, were the following: In Love's Domains (1890), Told in the Hills (1891), Squaw Eloise (1892), A Flower of France (1894), The Bondwoman (1899), That Girl Montana (1901), Indian Love Letters (1907), The Flute of the Gods (1909), The Woman of Twilight (1913), The House of the Dawn (1914) and The Treasure Trail (1918).