Jean Webster

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Jean Webster (pseudonym for Alice Jane Chandler Webster) was born July 24, 1876 and died June 11, 1916. She was a US author and journalist and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Wheat Princess. Although her life was short, her books were an inspiration to many women around the world.

1 Jean Webster's Childhood and Life as a Woman
2 Her Stories
3 Author's Death
4 Bibliography
5 External links

[edit] Jean Webster's Childhood and Life as a Woman

Alice Jane Chandler Webster was born in Fredonia, New York. She was the only child of her mother, Annie Moffet Webster and was niece to Mark Twain. Her ill-fated father, Charles Luther Webster, was Twain's partner and publisher of the Charles L. Webster Publishing company in 1884.

As a child, Jean Webster had full of imagination, different from others her own age. From 1894-1896, she attended the Lady Jane Grey boarding school in Binghamton, New York. Her name was changed by the school when her roommate had the same name as her, Alice. In 1897, Webster entered Vassar College as a member of the class of 1901. As an undergraduate, she began writing stories for Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier and Vassar Miscellany. At her college, she began to develop a close friendship with Adelaide Crapsey who remained as her friend until Crapsey's death in 1914. After graduating from college, Webster decided to write stories to earn her living in New York City.

[edit] Her Stories

Jean Webster wrote many stories and plays up to date, and they have inspired many young women. Her first story, 'When Patty Went to College' was published in 1903. The story she wrote had many sides and tales of what a women's college life is like. In the next few years, Webster wrote eight novels and many unpublished stories, plus plays. They were all exciting, realistic, and humorous in full detail. One of her well known novels, 'Daddy-Long-Legs' is a story about a girl named Jerusha Abbott, an orphan at birth. Jerusha Abbott, who was full of dreams in her own life, finally got a taste of it with the help of a gentleman whom she had never met. She only knew that he was tall. She give him the nickname of 'Daddy Long Legs,' and sent her letters to this strange, yet kind man who sent her to a college. Jerusha Abbott makes friends, adventures in life, and faces hardship against love and will against freedom. Not to mention that she got herself a new name which everyone in her college calls her 'Judy,' which gives more bright and cheerful thought to her personality. A companion novel, 'Dear Enemy,' chronicles the adventures a college friend of Judy's has while running the orphanage Judy was raised in. Both of the books are told mostly in letters.

[edit] Author's Death

Unfortunately, Jean Webster died after giving a birth to her daughter in 1916. Although her life was short, her stories that gave encouragement and inspiration will always remain a part of our world and history.