[1] Her works drew heavily from her childhood experiences growing up on an antebellum plantation.
Pyrnelle was born Elizabeth Louise Clarke on a cotton plantation in Perry County, Alabama.
After the Civil War, the family moved to Dallas County, Alabama, where her father opened a medical practice.
Her novel Diddie, Dumps & Tot; or plantation child-life was published in 1882 under the pseudonym "Pyrnelle" – a slight variation on her husband's name.
She would publish only one other work during her lifetime: a story called "Aunt Flora's Courtship and Marriage".