Jean Webster (1) (1876–1916)

Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, born in Fredonia, New York. Her mother, Annie Moffett Webster, was a niece of Mark Twain and her father, Charles Luther Webster, was Twain's business partner. She was educated at the Fredonia Normal School and the Lady Jane Grey School in Binghamton. In 1897 she enrolled at Vassar College, where she wrote stories for the Vassar Miscellany. She also wrote a weekly local news column for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier. She spent a semester abroad in France, Italy, and England. After graduation, she moved to New York City and worked as a freelance writer. Her first novel, When Patty Went to College, was published in 1903. In 1906-1907, she went on a world tour with Ethelyn McKinney, her future sister-in-law, and Lena Weinstein, a close friend. In her career, she produced a total of eight novels and numerous short stories and plays. Daddy Long-Legs (1912) was a bestseller and was later adapted for the stage and several film versions. She also had a deep interest in many social reform issues, including orphaned children, prison reform, and women's suffrage. She became secretly engaged to Glenn Ford McKinney, a wealthy married lawyer. After 7 years, he finally obtained a divorce and they married in 1915. They lived in an apartment overlooking Central Park and at Tymor Farm in rural Dutchess County. Jean Webster died in childbirth in 1916, just short of her 40th birthday. Daughter Jean McKinney Connor survived.