Early Childhood

In 1876, when I was 3 years old, I traveled with my mom to go visit my grandparents in Lawrence, Massachusetts. When my mom and I left from San Francisco, my mom was pregnant at the time with my sister. We were leaving San Francisco because my dad was constantly gambling and drinking and my mom didn't want me to be in that kind of environment. While in Lawrence, Massachusetts, my mom gave birth to my sister Jeanie Florence, on June 25, 1876. We returned to San Francisco later in the fall that year and my father was diagnosed as a consumptive alcoholic drinker. My father was still not setting a good example to me and his health began to deteriorate. In 1879, I began to attend kindergarten but I did not last there for more than a day. In 1880, my father was elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with me starting 1st grade but dropping out a few days in. In 1881, I started to attend 2nd grade. Also in this year I was baptized in my mother's Sweden-borgian church. In 1882, I dropped out of school and began to be home schooled. A few years went by and on May 5, 1885 my father died from tuberculosis. After my mom paid for the funeral and the rest of the expenses, we were left with very little money and had to move to Lawrence, Massachusetts to live with my grandparents. We stayed there for a year and then moved to Salem Depot, New Hampshire in 1886 where both my sister and I entered 5th grade. That same year, my mom began to start teaching. In 1888, I passed the entrance exams for Lawrence High School and my mother resigned from teaching in the Salem Depot district school. I finished at the top of my class in 1889 and in 1890 I had my first published poem in the Lawrence High School Bulletin. In 1891, I passed the preliminary exam for Harvard College and  became the chief editor of the school bulletin and fell in love with a student who attended the school and her name was Elinor Miriam White.