Background
Betts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1877, the daughter of the physician Thomas Betts and Alice Whelan.
Betts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1877, the daughter of the physician Thomas Betts and Alice Whelan.
Betts studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, with the noted illustrator Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute, now Drexel University, and then at the Howard Pyle School in nearby Wilmington, Delaware.
She was the younger sister of the illustrator Anna Whelan Betts. Betts first gained work illustrating magazines including Saint Nicholas Magazine, McClure"s, and Collier"son Beginning in 1904, she was commissioned to illustrate several books including James Whitcomb Riley"s The Raggedy Manitoba, While the Heart Beats Young, and Frances Hodgson Burnett"s A Little Princess.
Along with Jessie Willcox Smith and Sarah Stilwell Weber, Betts was one of the "familiar" magazine and book illustrators in the early 20th century.
Betts died at her home in Philadelphia on October 9, 1959. She was buried at Solebury Friends Cemetery in Solebury, Pennsylvania.
