Virginia Sharpe Patterson

Who was Virginia Sharpe Patterson?

Mrs Anne Virginia Sharpe Patterson was an American author, who also wrote under the pseudonym Garry Gaines.

Anne Virginia Sharpe was the daughter of George W. Sharpe, the youngest member of the Maryland Senate, and Caroline Snyder. Home-educated by her father until his death, she then attended the Delaware Female Seminary for three years. Upon marriage she moved to Bellefontaine, Ohio. Her first articles appeared in the Cincinnati Gazette. A series of satires, 'The Girl of the Period', proginally written for the Bellefontaine Examiner, was republished under the pen-name Garry Gaines in 1878. Despite bad health from 1881 onwards, she continued an active life. In 1889 she was vice-president of the Ohio Women's Press Club. In 1890 she founded the Woman's Club of Bellefontaine, Ohio.