96 Facts About Gene Stratton-Porter

Gene Stratton-Porter, born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American writer, nature photographer, and naturalist from Wabash County, Indiana.

In 1917 Stratton-Porter urged legislative support for the conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in Indiana.

Gene Stratton-Porter was a silent film-era producer who founded her own production company, Gene Stratton Porter Productions, in 1924.

Gene Stratton-Porter wrote several best-selling novels in addition to columns for national magazines, such as McCall's and Good Housekeeping, among others.

Gene Stratton-Porter's novels have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Braille, and at their peak in the 1910s attracted an estimated 50 million readers.

Gene Stratton-Porter was the subject of a one-woman play, A Song of the Wilderness.

Gene Stratton-Porter received little formal schooling early in life; however, she developed a strong interest in nature, especially birds.

Gene Stratton-Porter began music lessons in banjo, violin, and piano from her sister, Florence, and received private art lessons from a local instructor.

Gene Stratton-Porter finished all but the final term of her senior year at Wabash High School.

Gene Stratton-Porter kept her family surname and added her husband's after her marriage.

Gene Stratton-Porter owned and operated farms, a hotel, and a restaurant.

Gene Stratton-Porter and Charles Porter's only child, a daughter, named Jeannette, was born on August 27,1887, when the Porters were living in Decatur, Indiana.

Charles pursued various business interests and traveled extensively, while Gene Stratton-Porter stayed at home.

Gene Stratton-Porter took pride in her family and maintaining a home, but she opposed the restrictive, traditional marriages of her era and grew bored and restless.

Gene Stratton-Porter maintained her independence through the pursuit of her lifelong interests in nature and birdlife, and began by writing about these subjects to earn her own income.

The Porters' daughter, Jeannette, married G Blaine Monroe in 1909 and had two daughters: Jeannette Helen Monroe was born on November 27,1911; Gene Stratton Monroe was born on March 22,1914, and became a film actor under the stage name Gene Stratton, starring in silent films based on three of her grandmother's books.

The Monroes divorced in 1920, and then Jeannette and her two daughters moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with Gene Stratton-Porter, who had moved there in 1919.

In 1888 Stratton-Porter persuaded her husband, Charles, to move their family from Decatur to Geneva in Adams County, Indiana, where he would be closer to his businesses.

Gene Stratton-Porter initially purchased a small home within walking distance of his drugstore; however, when oil was discovered on his land, it provided the financial resources needed to build a larger home.

In 1912, with the profits she made from her best-selling novels and successful writing career, Gene Stratton-Porter purchased property along Sylvan Lake, near Rome City in Noble County, Indiana, and built the Cabin at Wildflower Woods estate, which eventually encompassed 150 acres.

Gene Stratton-Porter moved to southern California in 1919 and made it her year-round residence.

Gene Stratton-Porter purchased homes in Hollywood and built a vacation home that she named Singing Water on her property on Catalina Island.

The Porters named their new home the Limberlost Cabin in reference to its location near the 13,000-acre Limberlost Swamp, where Gene Stratton-Porter liked to explore and found the inspiration for her writing.

Gene Stratton-Porter became known as "The Bird Lady" and "The Lady of the Limberlost" to friends and readers.

Between 1888 and 1910, the area's wetlands around Gene Stratton-Porter's home were drained to reclaim the land for agricultural development and the Limberlost Swamp, along with the flora and fauna that Gene Stratton-Porter documented in her books, was destroyed.

Gene Stratton-Porter initially purchased a small home on the north side of Sylvan Lake, near Rome City, in Noble County, Indiana, as a summer home while she looked for property to build a new residence.

Gene Stratton-Porter moved into the large, two-story, cedar-log cabin in February 1914; her husband, Charles, who remained at their home in Geneva, commuted to the lakeside property on weekends.

Gene Stratton-Porter assisted in developing the grounds of Wildflower Woods into her private wildlife sanctuary.

Gene Stratton-Porter offered to sell her property to the State of Indiana in 1923 to establish a state nature preserve, but representatives of the state government did not respond.

Gene Stratton-Porter retained ownership of Wildflower Woods for the remainder of her life.

In 1940 the Gene Stratton-Porter Association purchased Wildflower Woods from Stratton-Porter's daughter, Jeannette Porter Meehan; in 1946 the association donated the 13-acre property to the State of Indiana, including the cabin, its formal gardens, orchard, and pond.

Lack of privacy at her home on Sylvan Lake in Indiana was among the reasons for Gene Stratton-Porter's move to California.

Gene Stratton-Porter arrived in southern California in the fall of 1919, intending to spend the winter months there, but enjoyed it so much that she decided to make it her year-round home.

Gene Stratton-Porter enjoyed an active social life in the Los Angeles area, made new friends, began to publish her poetry, and continued to write novels and magazine articles.

Gene Stratton-Porter initially purchased a small home between Second and Third Streets in Hollywood, not far from where her Stratton relatives lived.

In early 1924 Gene Stratton-Porter purchased two lots on Catalina Island to build a 14-room vacation retreat.

Gene Stratton-Porter moved into the wildlife haven in June 1924 and named it Singing Water because of the sounds emitting from the elaborate fountain.

Gene Stratton-Porter completed her last novel, The Keeper of the Bees at Catalina Island in 1924.

Gene Stratton-Porter named her estate Floraves for flora and aves.

Gene Stratton-Porter died on December 6,1924, a few weeks before the home was completed.

Gene Stratton-Porter took up writing in 1895 as an outlet for self-expression and as a means to earn her own income.

Gene Stratton-Porter felt that as long as her work did not interfere with the needs of her family, she was free to pursue her own interests.

Gene Stratton-Porter began her literary career by observing and writing about birdlife of the upper Wabash River valley and the nature she had seen during visits to the Limberlost Swamp, less than a mile from her home in Geneva, Indiana.

Gene Stratton-Porter wrote twenty-six books that included twelve novels, eight nature studies, two books of poetry, and four collections of stories and children's books.

Gene Stratton-Porter incorporated everyday occurrences and acquaintances into her works of fiction.

Gene Stratton-Porter's other writing introduced the concept of land and wildlife conservation to her readers.

Gene Stratton-Porter's novels have been translated into twenty-three languages, as well as Braille.

Gene Stratton-Porter began her career in 1895, when she sent nature photographs that she had made to Recreation magazine.

Gene Stratton-Porter's first published article, "A New Experience in Millinery," appeared in the publication's February 1900 issue.

Gene Stratton-Porter was submitting short stories and nature-related material to magazines on a regular basis with increasing success.

Gene Stratton-Porter's writing included poetry and children's stories, in addition to essays and editorials that were published in magazines with nationwide circulation such as McCall's and Good Housekeeping.

However, Gene Stratton-Porter never acknowledged that she had written it and its author was never revealed.

Gene Stratton-Porter loved the area and its wildlife and had documented them extensively.

In 1910, when Gene Stratton-Porter reached a long-term agreement with Doubleday, Page and Company to publish her books, she agreed to provide one manuscript each year, alternating between novels and nonfiction nature books.

The title character is modeled after Gene Stratton-Porter's deceased older brother, Leander, whom Gene Stratton-Porter nicknamed Laddie.

Over time, sales of Gene Stratton-Porter's novels had slowly declined and by 1919 her status as a best-selling author began to fade.

Judith Reick Long, one of Gene Stratton-Porter's biographers, stated that World War I-era racial prejudice and nativism were prevalent in the United States and it was not unusual to be anti-Asian in southern California at that time.

The Keeper of the Bees and The Magic Garden were the last of Gene Stratton-Porter's novels completed before her death.

Gene Stratton-Porter's warnings appeared nearly two decades before the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and well in advance of present-day environmental concerns about climate change.

Moths of the Limberlost, the nature book of which Gene Stratton-Porter was "most proud," was dedicated to Neltje Blanchan, a fellow nature writer and the wife of her publisher, Frank Nelson Doubleday.

Gene Stratton-Porter, who was not a trained scientist, centered her field research on her own interests in observing the domestic behavior of wild birds, such as their nest-building, diets, and social behavior.

Gene Stratton-Porter's writing tried to explain nature in ways that her readers could understand and avoided scientific jargon and tedious, dry statistics.

Gene Stratton-Porter regularly contributed articles and photographs to magazines that included Metropolitan, Recreation, Outing, Country Life in America, and Ladies' Home Journal.

Gene Stratton-Porter agreed to write a series of editorials for McCall's magazine in a monthly column called the "Gene Stratton-Porter's Page," beginning in January 1922.

Tales You Won't Believe, a collection of articles that Gene Stratton-Porter had written for Good Housekeeping, and Let Us Highly Resolve, a collection of essays that had appeared in McCall's magazine, were published after her death.

Gene Stratton-Porter explains her religious beliefs in the afterword of the book.

Gene Stratton-Porter made sketches of her observations as part of her fieldwork.

Gene Stratton-Porter was especially noted for her close-up photographs of wildlife in their natural habitat.

Gene Stratton-Porter submitted some of her early photographs to Recreation magazine in the late 1890s and wrote a regular camera column for the publication in 1901.

Gene Stratton-Porter preferred to use her own photographs to illustrate her nature books.

Gene Stratton-Porter believed that the larger plates provided her with more detailed photographs of her subjects.

Gene Stratton-Porter developed her photographic plates in a darkroom she set up in the bathroom at Limberlost Cabin, her family's home in Geneva, Indiana, and later in her darkroom at the Cabin at Wildflower Woods along Sylvan Lake.

In 1917 Stratton-Porter became more active in the conservation movement when the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation to allow drainage of state-owned swamps in Noble and LaGrange Counties.

Gene Stratton-Porter joined with others to urge the state legislature to repeal the law that would lead to the destruction of wetlands in northeastern Indiana.

In 1922 Gene Stratton-Porter became a founding member of the Izaak Walton League, a national conservation group, and joined its efforts to save the wild elk at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from extinction.

Gene Stratton-Porter called on the readers of Outdoor America, the league's publication, to take prompt action.

Gene Stratton-Porter was a strong advocate of land and wetland conservation.

Paramount Pictures produced Freckles, the first film based on her novels in 1917, but Gene Stratton-Porter was unhappy with the movie because it did not closely follow her novel and decided to make her own.

Gene Stratton-Porter supervised the filming and assisted the principal director, James Leo Meehan.

In 1924 Gene Stratton-Porter formed her own movie studio and production company.

Gene Stratton-Porter Productions created moving pictures that were closely based on her novels.

Gene Stratton-Porter's studio filmed The Harvester at her Wildflower Woods estate in northeastern Indiana.

In later 1918, after years of years of strenuous work outdoors, battling with the Indiana state government to protect the state's wetlands, and worrying over the events of World War I, fifty-four-year-old Gene Stratton-Porter checked into Clifton Springs Sanitarium and Clinic, a health retreat for the famous in New York.

Gene Stratton-Porter recuperated at the resort for a month before returning to her home at Wildflower Woods and taking up new challenges as a poet, filmmaker, and editorialist.

From her California home, Gene Stratton-Porter continued to write novels and poetry, in addition a series of articles for McCall's magazine.

At the time of her death in 1924, Gene Stratton-Porter owned Wildflower Woods in Indiana, a year-round home in Los Angeles, a vacation home on Catalina Island, and was constructing a mansion in Bel Air, California.

Gene Stratton-Porter died on December 6,1924, at the age of sixty-one, in Los Angeles, California, of injuries received in a traffic accident.

Gene Stratton-Porter's car, driven by her chauffeur, collided with a streetcar while she was en route to visit her brother, Jerome.

Gene Stratton-Porter was thrown from the vehicle and died at a nearby hospital less than two hours later of a fractured pelvis and crushed chest.

Gene Stratton-Porter's remains were held in a temporary burial vault until 1934 and then interred at Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery.

Gene Stratton-Porter, who is remembered for her ambition and individualism, was a passionate nature lover who encouraged people to explore nature and the outdoors.

Gene Stratton-Porter especially loved birds and did extensive studies of moths.

Gene Stratton-Porter supported efforts to preserve wetlands, such as the Limberlost Swamp, and saving the wild elk at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from extinction.

Gene Stratton-Porter recognized the impact that cutting down trees would have on climate change and encouraged Americans to preserve the environment.

Gene Stratton-Porter's 26 published books include 12 novels, eight nature studies, two books of poetry, and four collections of stories and children's books.

Eight of Gene Stratton-Porter's novels have been made into moving pictures.