Author. Sara Payson Willis was born the fifth of eight children; her siblings included future author Nathaniel Parker Willis. She married her first husband, Charles H. Eldredge, in 1837, though he and their eldest of three daughters died. She remarried in 1849 to Samuel Farrington though she left him two years later, igniting a minor scandal. Her financial difficulties led to her writing using the pseudonym "Fanny Fern." By the 1850s, working for a New York newspaper, she was the first woman granted a regular newspaper column; her popularity allowed her to become one of the highest-paid magazine writers of her day. She also issued several books to great success including "Fern Leaves" in 1853. Her major work was "Ruth Hall" (1854), a thinly-veiled autobiographical novel which also lampooned her brother N. P. Willis, by then a highly-successful writer, and his refusal to provide financial or literary assistance to a struggling sister. Fern married James Parton, a former employee of her brother, in 1856. The couple moved from New York City to Manhattan. In her later years, Fern spoke out about social reform and women's rights, specifically women's suffrage.

Author. Sara Payson Willis was born the fifth of eight children; her siblings included future author Nathaniel Parker Willis. She married her first husband, Charles H. Eldredge, in 1837, though he and their eldest of three daughters died. She remarried in 1849 to Samuel Farrington though she left him two years later, igniting a minor scandal. Her financial difficulties led to her writing using the pseudonym "Fanny Fern." By the 1850s, working for a New York newspaper, she was the first woman granted a regular newspaper column; her popularity allowed her to become one of the highest-paid magazine writers of her day. She also issued several books to great success including "Fern Leaves" in 1853. Her major work was "Ruth Hall" (1854), a thinly-veiled autobiographical novel which also lampooned her brother N. P. Willis, by then a highly-successful writer, and his refusal to provide financial or literary assistance to a struggling sister. Fern married James Parton, a former employee of her brother, in 1856. The couple moved from New York City to Manhattan. In her later years, Fern spoke out about social reform and women's rights, specifically women's suffrage.

Bio by: Midnightdreary