William Owen Steele, the second writer inducted into the Williamson County Authors’ Hall of Fame, was born in Williamson County, the descendant of pioneer families. He graduated from Franklin High School and Cumberland University before serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. After the war, he and his wife, Mary Govan (daughter of Christine Noble Govan), moved to her hometown, Chattanooga, where he did graduate work at the University of Chattanooga. He lived the rest of his life on Signal Mountain. His more than 40 books were historical, both fiction and nonfiction, and mostly directed to the young reader. His books won many literary awards, including a Newbury Honorable Mention and the Thomas Alva Edison Award.
- –The Magic Amulet, 1979
- –Talking Bones: Secrets of Indian Burial Mounds, 1978
- –The War Party, 1978
- –The Cherokee Crown of Tannassy, 1977
- –The Man with the Silver Eyes, 1976
- –The Lone Hunt, 1976
- –The Eye in the Forest (with Mary Q. Steele), 1975
- –Henry Woodward of Carolina, Surgeon, Trader, Indian Chief, 1972
- –Triple Trouble for Hound Dog Zip, 1972
- –The Wilderness Tattoo, 1972
- –Hound Dog Zip to the Rescue, 1970
- –The Old Wilderness Road: An American Journey, 1968
- –Tomahawk Border, 1966
- –Trail Through Danger, 1965
- –The No-Name Man of the Mountain, 1964
- –WAYAH of the Real People, 1964
- –The Year of the Bloody Sevens, 1963
- –Westward Adventure: The True Stories of Six Pioneers, 1962
- –The Spooky Thing, 1960
- –The Far Frontier, 1959
- –Andy Jackson’s Water Well, 1959
- –The Perilous Road, 1958, 1990
- –Daniel Boone’s Echo, 1957
- –Flaming Arrows, 1957,1990
- –Davy Crockett’s Earthquake, 1956
- –We Were There with the Pony Express, 1956
- –The Lone Hunt, 1956
- –DeSoto, Child of the Sun: the Search for Gold, 1956
- –We Were There on the Oregon Trail, 1955
- –Tomahawks and Trouble, 1955
- –Winter Danger, 1954, 1990
- –Francis Marion: Young Swamp Fox, 1954, 1962
- –The Story of Leif Ericson, 1954
- –The Story of Daniel Boone, 1953
- –John Sevier: Pioneer Boy, 1953
- –Wilderness Journey, 1953
- –Over-Mountain Boy, 1952
- –The Buffalo Knife, 1952, 1990
- –The Golden Root, 1951
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