Jane G. Austin
Jane Goodwin Austin , born Mary Jane Goodwin, was an American writer, notable for her popular stories of the time. During her lifetime, she was the author ofbooks and numerous short stories. Her friends throughout her life were some of the most wellknown American authors, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott.
Austin was born on February 25, 1831, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Isaac Goodwin and Elizabeth Hammatt. Her parents were from Plymouth and could trace eight distinct family lines back to the Pilgrims. Janes father, a lawyer, antiquary and genealogist, died in 1833, when she was only two. Behind him, he left a large archive of historical and legal documents from the Pilgrims, the whereabouts of which are unknown today. Her brother, John A. Goodwin, had also written a book on the Pilgrims, The Pilgrim Republic. Her mother was a poet and song writer, and told Jane many stories of her ancestors, especially of Francis Le Baron the nameless nobleman and his descendants. As a child, she was educated at nine different private schools in Boston. Austins most popular works were her Pilgrim stories, for which she relied on family lore, archival research, and a creative imagination.
Source: Wikipedia