1. Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, an American author whose books include Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy.
37 Facts About Jean Webster
1. 2.
Alice Jane Chandler Webster was born in Fredonia, New York.
3.
Jean Webster was the eldest child of Annie Moffet Webster and Charles Luther Webster.
4.
Jean Webster lived her early childhood in a strongly matriarchal and activist setting, with her great-grandmother, grandmother and mother all living under the same roof.
5.
Jean Webster's great-grandmother worked on temperance issues and her grandmother on racial equality and women's suffrage.
6.
Jean Webster subsequently committed suicide in 1891 from a drug overdose.
7.
Jean Webster chose "Jean", a variation on her middle name.
8.
Jean Webster graduated from the school in June 1896 and returned to the Fredonia Normal School for a year in the college division.
9.
In 1897, Jean Webster entered Vassar College as a member of the class of 1901.
10.
Jean Webster became involved in the College Settlement House that served poorer communities in New York, an interest she would maintain throughout her life.
11.
Jean Webster began a close friendship with the future poet Adelaide Crapsey who remained her friend until Crapsey's death in 1914.
12.
Jean Webster participated with Crapsey in many extracurricular activities, including writing, drama, and politics.
13.
Jean Webster was a contributor of stories to the Vassar Miscellany and as part of her sophomore year English class, began writing a weekly column of Vassar news and stories for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier.
14.
Jean Webster reported that she was "a shark in English" but her spelling was reportedly quite eccentric, and when a horrified teacher asked her authority for a spelling error, she replied "Jean Webster", a play on the name of the dictionary of the same name.
15.
Jean Webster spent a semester in her junior year in Europe, visiting France and the United Kingdom, but with Italy as her main destination, including visits to Rome, Naples, Venice and Florence.
16.
Jean Webster traveled with two fellow Vassar students, and in Paris met Ethelyn McKinney and Lena Weinstein, Americans, who were to become lifelong friends.
17.
Jean Webster wrote columns about her travels for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier and gathered material for a short story, "Villa Gianini", which was published in the Vassar Miscellany in 1901.
18.
Jean Webster later expanded it into a novel, The Wheat Princess.
19.
Back in Fredonia, Jean Webster began writing When Patty Went to College, in which she described contemporary women's college life.
20.
Jean Webster began an affair with Ethelyn McKinney's brother, Glenn Ford McKinney.
21.
In 1911, Just Patty was published, and Jean Webster began writing the novel Daddy-Long-Legs while staying at an old farmhouse in Tyringham, Massachusetts.
22.
Jean Webster dramatized Daddy-Long-Legs during 1913, and in 1914 spent four months on tour with the play, which starred a young Ruth Chatterton as Judy.
23.
Jean Webster's success was overshadowed by the battle of her college friend, Adelaide Crapsey, with tuberculosis, leading to Crapsey's death in October 1914.
24.
In June 1915, Glenn Ford McKinney was granted a divorce, and he and Jean Webster were married in a quiet ceremony in September in Washington, Connecticut.
25.
Jean Webster became pregnant and according to family tradition, was warned that her pregnancy might be dangerous.
26.
Jean Webster suffered severely from morning sickness, but by February 1916 was feeling better and was able to return to her many activities: social events, prison visits, and meetings about orphanage reform and women's suffrage.
27.
Jean Webster began a book and play set in Sri Lanka.
28.
Jean Webster's friends reported that they had never seen her happier.
29.
Jean Webster entered the Sloan Hospital for Women, New York on the afternoon of June 10,1916.
30.
All was well initially, but Jean Webster became ill and died of childbirth fever at 7:30 am on June 11,1916.
31.
Jean Webster's daughter was named Jean in her honor.
32.
Jean Webster was active political and socially, and often included issues of socio-political interest in her books.
33.
The eugenics movement was a hot topic when Jean Webster was writing her novels.
34.
From her college years, Jean Webster was involved in reform movements, and was a member of the State Charities Aid association, including visiting orphanages, fundraising for dependent children and arranging for adoptions.
35.
Jean Webster's novels promoted the idea of education for women, and her major characters explicitly supported women's suffrage.
36.
Jean Webster goes out of her way to help a homesick freshman, Olivia Copeland, who believes she will be sent home when she fails three subjects in the examination.
37.
Jean Webster plays hooky from chapel and meets a bishop.