Jean Webster: Humanitarian/ Author
A Woman Whose Words Should Not Be Forgotten
Jean Webster is an important American author. Not only for the lasting success of two of her books but also for her humanitarian efforts.
Jean Webster is most well known for her books Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. The well-loved Daddy-Long-Legs has been translated into eighteen languages. Despite the popularity of these two books and her blue-blood literary lineage, her other works and even her biography have nearly vanished from the record.
Jean Webster was born July 24, 1876 to Annie Moffet Webster and Charles Luther Webster and was named Alice Jane Chandler Webster. Her family’s artistic and leadership heritage was valuable. Her uncle was Samuel Clemens. In addition to the prestige of her Uncle, Jean’s father was an author and a partner in Clemens’ publishing firm. Among other notable ancestors, Jean also counted Daniel Boone and Eli Whitney. When she went to college, she had a roommate with the name Alice and was asked to take her middle name. She complied and took the opportunity to update what seemed to her the old-fashioned name Jane to Jean.
She attended Vassar College where she did well. However, she was a terrible speller and when asked by a teacher “On what authority do you spell thus?” she replied by mocking her last name. “Webster,” she said even though she was not related to the Websters of dictionary fame. While at college, she majored in English and economics and prepared for a literary career. As part of her economics degree she visited homes for delinquent and destitute children, which became background material for her later writing. She had a vivid imagination and one time allowed her imagination full reign while working on a newspaper article and nearly lost her job over it.
After college, Jean wholly pursued her goal of being an independent writer. She compiled and published a collection of stories that she wrote while in college. The collection was titled When Patty Went to College. Jean had a wandering spirit and traveled often. While in Italy she found material for her books Jerry Junior and The Wheat Princess.
She was a hard worker and the quality of her writing had as much to do with her work ethic as any inherent genius. She would write volumes and then begin the arduous process of cutting, editing, and pruning. Daddy-Long-Legs was published in 1912, and was a critical and popular success. As a result, she converted the story to a play, which was also successful. The success of the play was used to promote charitable works and reform. The importance of the book and play in this regard cannot be underestimated as Daddy-Long-Leg dolls were sold to raise money so that suitable families could adopt orphans.
During this time Jean endured personal joy and personal sorrow. While in college, she had become close friends with Adelaide Crapsey, a well-known poet. Adelaide and Jean were the only two socialists at Vassar a standing they seemed to enjoy and which drew them closer. Adelaide died from tuberculosis in 1914, which was a blow to Jean’s happiness.
During this time, Jean was in the middle of a relationship with a married man, Glen Ford McKinney. He was unhappily married but was able to spend a fair amount of time with Jean. In 1915, he finally succeeded in getting a divorce. The two married and the two settled down to living life between Webster’s New York City apartment and McKinney’s farm in Duchess County, New York.
Jean was busy and happy in her marriage. However, it was not to last long. On June 10, 1916, she gave birth to a baby girl. The next day, Jean died from childbirth fever she had not reached her fortieth birthday. Some suggest that her work ethic and her value system only needed the maturity of age to bring truly great works of literature. We will never know.
To learn more about her book Daddy-Long-Legs, read the article Daddy-Long-Legs.
