Jean Webster was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy.
Background
Jean Webster was born in Fredonia, N. Y. , the first child of Annie (Moffett) and Charles Luther Webster. Her father, a publisher, was from New England, his wife from the S. Their lineage was British, with a German strain; their American kin included Daniel Boone, Eli Whitney, and Samuel L. Clemens.
Education
Jean Webster attended the public schools of Fredonia, finished preparation for college at Lady Jane Grey School, Binghamton, N. Y. (1896), and received the degree of A. B. from Vassar College (1901). She was an able student but a poor speller. Asked by a horrified teacher, "On what authority do you spell thus?" she retorted, "Webster. " Not to enjoy unearned importance, she tried to conceal the fact that she was Mark Twain's grandniece.
Career
While a student she was correspondent for a Poughkeepsie newspaper and contributed several stories to Vassar Miscellany. Her major studies were English and economics. Visits to institutions for the destitute and the delinquent impressed her imagination permanently and gave direction to her writing. After college she became an independent writer for magazines. Her first book, When Patty Went to College (1903), originally published serially, she had shaped while a student from her experiences at Vassar. The amusing and enlightening Patty series, including Just Patty (1911), lead in their field. In her travels, besides a trip around the world (1906 - 07), she made long sojourns in Italy, where she found the setting for Jerry Junior (1907), and for her favorite, The Wheat Princess (1905). Her next books, The Four Pools Mystery (1908), published anonymously, and Much Ado About Peter (1909), were popular. The attraction of an old house (55 West Tenth Street) brought her near to Greenwich Village. Not in revolt, and coveting a whole view of society, she had the recognition of social workers. The inferential thesis of her novels, Daddy-Long-Legs (1912) and its sequel Dear Enemy (London, 1914), is that under-privileged children, if given the chance, are capable of succeeding in life and of enjoying its beauty. A moving revelation of childlife in an orphanage, timeless in its humor, justice, and lovable make-believe, Daddy-Long-Legs made its creator famous as the spokesman for "the small, blue-ginghamed lonely ones of earth. " It was memorable for its long run when dramatized, was translated widely, and was finally universalized on the screen by Mary Pickford, who bought the film rights (1918). In writing it Jean Webster is said to have had in mind her close friend and classmate, Adelaide Crapsey, who may also have been the original of Patty. In 1915 she wrote a preface for Adelaide Crapsey's Verse, which was also published in Vassar Miscellany, March 1915. She was a sane and hopeful realist on her way, it was predicted, to leadership, and was already felt indirectly as a humanitarian. Her literary discipline was diligent and practical; she experienced directly, wrote profusely, and cut ruthlessly. She died, June 11, 1916, a day after the birth of her daughter.
Achievements
Connections
On September 7, 1915, she was married to Glenn Ford McKinney. They had a daughter.