ALDRICH, Bess Streeter

Born 17 February 1881, Cedar Falls, Iowa; died 3 August 1954, Lincoln, Nebraska

Also wrote under: Margaret Dean Stephens

Daughter of James Wareham and Mary Anderson Streeter; married Charles Aldrich, 1907

Bess Streeter Aldrich's parents emigrated to frontier Iowa in the 1850s. The family's experiences there became the basis for Aldrich's most successful novels. After graduating from Iowa State Teachers' College in Cedar Falls in 1901, she wrote articles for teachers' magazines and stories for primary school children. When her husband died suddenly from a heart attack in 1925, Aldrich was the sole supporter of her children, and she began …