Gene Stratton Porter Popular Books

Gene Stratton Porter Biography & Facts

Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924), born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American writer, nature photographer, and naturalist from Wabash County, Indiana. In 1917 Stratton-Porter urged legislative support for the conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in Indiana. She was also a silent film-era producer who founded her own production company, Gene Stratton Porter Productions, in 1924. Stratton-Porter wrote several best-selling novels in addition to columns for national magazines, such as McCall's and Good Housekeeping, among others. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Braille, and at their peak in the 1910s attracted an estimated 50 million readers. Eight of her novels, including A Girl of the Limberlost, were adapted into moving pictures. Stratton-Porter was also the subject of a one-woman play, A Song of the Wilderness. Two of her former homes in Indiana are state historic sites, the Limberlost State Historical Site in Geneva and the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site on Sylvan Lake, near Rome City, Indiana. Early life and education Geneva Grace Stratton, the twelfth and last child of Mary (Shallenberger) and Mark Stratton, was born at the family's Hopewell Farm on August 17, 1863, near Lagro in Wabash County, Indiana. Mark Stratton, a Methodist minister and farmer of English descent, and Mary Stratton, a homemaker of German-Swiss ancestry, were married in Ohio on December 24, 1835, relocated to Wabash County, Indiana, in 1838, and settled at Hopewell Farm in 1848. Geneva's eleven siblings included Catherine, Mary Ann, Anastasia, Florence, Ada, Jerome, Irvin, Leander, and Lemon, in addition to two sisters, Samira and Louisa Jane, who died at a young age. Geneva's married sister, Mary Ann, died in an accident in February 1872; her teenaged brother, Leander, whom Geneva called Laddie, drowned in the Wabash River on July 6, 1872.In 1874 twelve-year-old Geneva moved to Wabash, Indiana, with her parents and three unmarried siblings. They initially lived in the home of Geneva's married sister, Anastasia, and her husband, Alvah Taylor, a lawyer. Geneva's mother died on February 3, 1875, less than four months after the move to Wabash. Thereafter, Geneva boarded with various relatives in Wabash until her marriage to Charles Porter in 1886. Geneva, who was also called Geneve during her youth, shortened her name to Gene during her courtship with Porter. Gene received little formal schooling early in life; however, she developed a strong interest in nature, especially birds. As a young girl, Gene's father and her brother, Leander, taught her to appreciate nature as she roamed freely around the family farm, observing animals in their natural habitats and caring for various pets.When her father shot a red-tailed hawk, she rescued it and nursed it back to health. Her family nicknamed her “Little Bird Woman" and her father gave her “the personal and indisputable ownership of each bird of every description that made its home on his land.”It was said of Stratton-Porter's childhood that she had been "reared by people who constantly pointed out every natural beauty, using it wherever possible to drive home a precept, the child [Stratton-Porter] lived out-of-doors with the wild almost entirely." After the family moved to Wabash in 1874, Gene attended school on a regular basis and became an avid reader. She also began music lessons in banjo, violin, and piano from her sister, Florence, and received private art lessons from a local instructor. Gene finished all but the final term of her senior year at Wabash High School. Because she was failing her classes, she made the decision on her own to quit, later claiming that she had left school to care for Anastasia, who was terminally ill with cancer and receiving treatment in Illinois. Marriage and family In 1884 thirty-four-year-old Charles Dorwin Porter saw Gene Stratton during her trip to Sylvan Lake, Indiana, where she was attending the Island Park Assembly, a Chautauqua gathering. Porter, a druggist, was thirteen years older than Stratton, who was not yet twenty-one. After ten months of regularly exchanging letters, the couple met at another gathering at Sylvan Lake, during the summer of 1885. They became engaged in October 1885 and were married on August 21, 1886. Gene Stratton-Porter kept her family surname and added her husband's after her marriage.Charles Porter, who had numerous business interests, became a wealthy and successful businessman. Of Scots-Irish descent, he was the son and oldest child of Elizabeth and John P. Porter, a doctor. Charles owned an interest in a drugstore in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which he sold soon after his marriage, and also owned drugstores in Decatur and Geneva. He also owned and operated farms, a hotel, and a restaurant. Porter and other investors organized the Bank of Geneva in 1895. He also became a Trenton Oil Company investor. At one time he had more than sixty oil wells drilled on his land.Gene and Charles Porter's only child, a daughter, named Jeannette, was born on August 27, 1887, when the Porters were living in Decatur, Indiana. The family moved to Geneva, in Adams County, Indiana, in 1888. Charles pursued various business interests and traveled extensively, while Gene stayed at home. Gene took pride in her family and maintaining a home, but she opposed the restrictive, traditional marriages of her era and grew bored and restless. She maintained her independence through the pursuit of her lifelong interests in nature and birdlife, and began by writing about these subjects to earn her own income. In time, she became an independently wealthy novelist, nonfiction writer, and film producer.Stratton-Porter had four grandchildren, two granddaughters, and two grandsons. The Porters' daughter, Jeannette, married G. Blaine Monroe in 1909 and had two daughters: Jeannette Helen Monroe was born on November 27, 1911; Gene Stratton Monroe was born on March 22, 1914. The Monroes divorced in 1920, and then Jeannette and her two daughters moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with Stratton-Porter, who had moved there in 1919. On June 6, 1923, Jeannette married James Leo Meehan, a film producer, who was Stratton-Porter's business associate. After the death of her brother, Lemon Stratton, in late 1915, Stratton-Porter became the guardian of his daughter, Leah Mary Stratton. Leah lived with Stratton-Porter for several years after Leah's father's death. Major residences In 1888 Stratton-Porter persuaded her husband, Charles, to move their family from Decatur to Geneva in Adams County, Indiana, where he would be closer to his businesses. He initially purchased a small home within walking distance of his drugstore; however, when oil was discovered on his land, it provided the financial resources needed to build a larger home. The Limberlost Cabin at Geneva served as Stratton-Porter's home from 1895 to 1913. In 1912, with the profits.... Discover the Gene Stratton Porter popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gene Stratton Porter books.

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  • The Gene Stratton-Porter Collection synopsis, comments

    The Gene Stratton-Porter Collection

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    Karpathos publishes the greatest works of history's greatest authors and collects them to make it easy and affordable for readers to have them all at the push of a button.  Al...

  • Complete Romance Nature of Gene Stratton-Porter synopsis, comments

    Complete Romance Nature of Gene Stratton-Porter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    Her first attributed novel, The Song of the Cardinal, met with great commercial success. Her novels Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost are set in the wooded wetlands and swamps ...

  • The Greatest Works of Gene Stratton-Porter synopsis, comments

    The Greatest Works of Gene Stratton-Porter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Table of Contents: Freckles A Girl of...

  • The Essential Gene Stratton-Porter Collection synopsis, comments

    The Essential Gene Stratton-Porter Collection

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    Compiled in one book, the essential collection of books by Gene StrattonPorter At the Foot of the Rainbow  A Daughter of the Land  Freckles  A Girl Of The Limberlost...

  • Works of Gene Stratton-Porter synopsis, comments

    Works of Gene Stratton-Porter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    11 works of Gene StrattonPorter American author, amateur naturalist and wildlife photographer (18631924) This ebook presents a collection of 11 works of Gene StrattonPorter. A dyna...

  • Bird Girl synopsis, comments

    Bird Girl

    Jill Esbaum & Rebecca Gibbon

    This lively STEAM picture book is about the life of Gene StrattonPorter, a pioneering wildlife photographer and popular author from the late 19th and early 20th century, who showed...

  • The White Flag synopsis, comments

    The White Flag

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    The White Flag: A Classic Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Redemption by Gene StrattonPorter: "The White Flag" by Gene StrattonPorter is a classic tale that explores themes of love, sa...

  • A Girl of the Limberlost synopsis, comments

    A Girl of the Limberlost

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    Set amid Indiana's Limberlost Swamp, this classic mixes astute observations on nature with the struggles of growing up in the early 20th century and the discoveries of independence...

  • Wonder, Hope, Love, and Loss synopsis, comments

    Wonder, Hope, Love, and Loss

    Gene Stratton-Porter & Scott Russell Sanders

    Three classic stories for young adults about the wonder and power of our connections with nature and each other.Gene StrattonPorter was a pioneer naturalist, wilderness advocate, a...

  • The Greatest Works of Gene Stratton-Porter synopsis, comments

    The Greatest Works of Gene Stratton-Porter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

    This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Table of Contents: Freckles A Girl of...