25 Facts About Netta Eames

Netta Eames was born Ninetta Wiley, in Wisconsin on September 26,1852.

Netta Eames is best known as a writer and magazine editor in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Netta Eames wrote the 1900 biography and a promotional biography of London in Overland Monthly in 1900, which helped to establish his career.

Netta Eames introduced London to the town of Glen Ellen, where he settled, developed a ranch, and spent his final years.

Netta Eames was born in Delhi, Wisconsin, fourteen miles outside of Oshkosh.

Netta Eames was the second youngest of seven siblings, with Dayelle, Jay, Calista, Byron, and Harry, her younger brother.

In 1875 at age 25, Netta married Roscoe L Eames, 30, of Maine, the business manager of the San Francisco-based magazine Overland Monthly.

Netta Eames home schooled Charmian in subjects including literature, geography, and art, resulting in a well-rounded woman with a genuine love for music and the discipline to train herself to become an accomplished pianist, organist and singer.

Netta Eames was able to type in the 120 - 150 word-per-minute range.

Netta Eames encouraged Charmian to pursue Jack, but soon after they met, Jack married his math tutor.

Charmian later wrote that Netta Eames had been domineering and strict, but the relationship was close.

Netta Eames was not completely altruistic; Charmian had inherited from her parents, and some of this money was spent during her upbringing.

Netta Eames invested in the future of a child who might care for her in later years.

Netta Eames owned a resort called Wake Robin in Glen Ellen California, northwest of the town of Sonoma sitting on 10 acres between Sonoma Creek and Wildwater Creek.

Netta Eames invited Jack London and his family to visit in 1903, which was his introduction to Glen Ellen, where he would later buy a ranch, build a home, and where he died about 13 years later.

Netta Eames was aware of him through their prior meeting and his correspondence with Netta.

London was injured when he fell from a buggy, and Netta Eames arranged for Charmian to care for him.

Netta Eames secured an excellent $7,000 deal for the serial publishing of Martin Eden in Pacific Monthly magazine.

On November 10,1910, Netta divorced Roscoe Eames, after a two-year process based on grounds of desertion.

Netta Eames soon married her second husband, Vermont-born Edward Biron Payne, her boss and longtime lover.

Netta Eames died on March 6,1944, at age 91 in Alameda County, California.

Netta Eames never had children, though she continued a close motherly relationship with Charmian throughout her life.

In December 1892 when Netta Eames was 40 years old, an article she wrote about San Nicolas Island, "Three Weeks on a Weird Island", was published in Popular Monthly magazine.

Netta Eames had visited the island aboard the schooner Hattie, run by Captain Conlan and a crew of two others.

Netta Eames was the first to publish a Jack London story, and had published seven more London stories, at $7.50 per story, before she met him for lunch in 1899, with her niece Charmian, and became a promoter of his work.