{{short description|American journalist (1903–1999)}} {{Infobox person | name = Louisa Venable Kyle | birth_date = {{Start date|1903|08|11}} | birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1999|10|24|1903|08|11}} | death_place = {{nowrap|Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.}} | occupation = {{Plainlist| * Author * Journalist }} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Mary Baldwin Seminary * Lasell Seminary }} | notable_works = ''The Witch of Pungo'' (1973) }} '''Louisa Venable Kyle''' (August 11, 1903 – October 24, 1999) was an American historian, author and journalist. She wrote works of fiction based on the history of her home state of Virginia.
== Biography == Born in Norfolk,<ref name="Family" /> she studied at Mary Baldwin Seminary and graduated from Lasell Seminary.<ref name="History" /> In the 1950s she wrote for ''The Virginian-Pilot'' and ''The Portsmouth Star''. She wrote about the first minister to Knotts Island on Currituck Sound to have lived there:<ref name="Austin" />
{{blockquote|Knotts Island has never before had its minister live on the island, with the people. From the beginning, the people who live here on Currituck Sound have had to depend on having the word of God brought to them by the old circuit riders, by the reading of church services in private homes, and by sharing a minister with another church.}}
In November 1956, she reported the opening of land between Seashore State Park and Crystal Lake.<ref name="Yarsinske" />
Kyle was married to William Emmett Kyle (1896–1972). They had three daughters.<ref name="Grave" /> She was one of the founding members of the Princess Anne County Historical Society.<ref name="History" /> She died in Virginia Beach.<ref name="Grave" />
== Literary works == Kyle wrote ''Historical Data on Little Neck Section of Princess Anne County'', which was published in 1960. ''The History of Eastern Shore Chapel and Lynnhaven Parish, 1642–1969'' appeared in 1969.
''The Witch of Pungo and Other Historical Stories of the Early Colonies'' is a fiction book written for children, with the tales of seven folk tales from the history of Princess Anne County, including "Christmas at Adam Thoroughgood's House" and ''Blackbeard's Treasure''. The historical background of each story is provided at the end of the story.<ref name="History" /> ''The Witch of Pungo'' is based on Grace Sherwood, a woman who was accused of witchcraft in February 1706<ref name="AP" /> and tried by ducking: "If Grace would float in consecrated water, as she did after being ducked in the Lynnhaven River off what is now called Witchduck Point, then she was deemed guilty of witchcraft".<ref name="History" /> Sherwood spent seven years in jail and then lived on a farm granted by Governor Alexander Spotswood.<ref name="History" /> The book was published in 1973 by Printcraft Press, Portsmouth, Virginia,<ref name="Witkowski" /> reissued in 1978 in Four O'Clock Farms Publishing Company,<ref name="Witch" /> and again in 1988.
Kyle's book ''Ram Lam'' (1975) was published by the Four O'Clock Farms Publishing Company. Her memoir, ''My Virginia Childhood: The Years 1903-1914'', was published in 1976. Other works included ''A Country Woman's Scrapbook'' (1980)<ref name="Scrapbook" /> and ''A Country Woman's Christmas'' (1993).
== References == {{reflist | colwidth = 30em | refs =
<ref name="Family"> {{cite web | url = http://www.palmspringsbum.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I19261&tree=Legends | title = Louisa Venable Kyle | publisher = palmspringsbum.org | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="History"> {{cite web | url = http://www.virginiabeachhistory.org/kyle.html | title = Grace Sherwood & The Witch of Pungo | publisher = Princess Anne County Historical Society | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="Austin"> {{cite web | last = Austin | first = Sue Fentress | url = http://kiscrapbook.knottsislandonline.com/diarymethpast.html | title = Methodist Church History | date = November 21, 2010 | publisher = kiscrapbook.knottsislandonline.com | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="Yarsinske"> {{cite book | last = Yarsinske | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nI-xo6ppTesC&pg=PA102 | first = Amy Waters | title = Lost Virginia Bach | year = 2011 | publisher = The History Press | page = 102 | isbn=9781609492045 }} </ref>
<ref name="Grave"> {{cite web | url = https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75222431 | title = Louisa Venable Kyle | date = October 25, 1999 |work = The Virginian-Pilot | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="Witkowski"> {{cite web | url = http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Sherwood_Grace_ca_1660-1740#start_entry | title = Grace Sherwood (ca. 1660–1740) | publisher = Encyclopedia Virginia | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="Witch"> {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bU2CmgEACAAJ | title = The Witch of Pungo: And Other Historical Stories of the Early Colonies | last1 = Kyle | first1 = Louisa Venable | year = 1973 }} </ref>
<ref name="AP"> {{cite web | url = http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Sherwood_Grace_ca_1660-1740#start_entry | title = Grace Sherwood (ca. 1660–1740) | agency = The Associated Press | date = 9 July 2013 | accessdate = 17 October 2013 }} </ref>
<ref name="Scrapbook"> {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Bx6JFgOea6AC | title = A country woman's scrapbook | isbn = 9780938694021 | last1 = Kyle | first1 = Louisa Venable | year = 1980 | publisher = JCP Corporation of Virginia }} </ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Louisa Venable}} Category:1903 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Writers from Norfolk, Virginia Category:American women historians Category:Historians of Virginia Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American women writers Category:Mary Baldwin University alumni Category:Lasell College alumni Category:20th-century American women journalists Category:20th-century American journalists Category:History of Virginia Beach, Virginia Category:Historians from Virginia Category:Memoirists from Virginia