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| Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 - May 5, 1919) |
Children are certainly
an integral part of genealogy – and children’s literature is a huge part of the
world of children in many if not most families. There are some giants of children’s literature whose
influence is felt for generations.
Without attempting anything like an exhaustive list of the giants of
children’s literature (or commenting on recent authors like JK Rowling), most
American adults would agree that the following are among the giants: Lewis
Carroll; Dr. Seuss; A.A. Milne; J.R.R. Tolkien; C.S. Lewis; and Roald
Dahl. Today is the 157th
anniversary of the birth of an American-grown giant – L. Frank Baum, the author and creator of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
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| A well-loved and often read Tew family copy of The Land of Oz, L. Frank Baum's sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. |
I am not related to
L. Frank Baum in any way, but since the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 -- and especially since the Judy
Garland film version in 1939 -- at least four generations of my family have
been exposed to the Land of Oz through books, film, music, and on stage. L. Frank Baum and his creation, the
Land of Oz, are true American icons that have provided innumerable childhood
and family entertainment moments for generations and millions around the
world. For this reason, a post
today to explore and learn a little about the genealogy and life of the man who
has provided so much to generations of other families is in order.
Lyman Frank Baum was
born in Chittenango, New York on May 15, 1856. Chittenango (from the Oneida meaning “where the sun shines
out”) is a village in the Town of Sullivan in Madison County in central New
York. The Erie Canal passes just
north of the village.
The future creator of
the Land of Oz, was named for his father’s brother, but did not like the name
Lyman and so went by “Frank.”
Frank was one of the five (of nine) children of Benjamin Ward Baum and
his wife Cynthia Ann (Stanton) Baum to survive beyond childhood. Cynthia Stanton is thought to be
descended from Thomas Stanton, one of the founders of Stonington, Connecticut. Benjamin Baum was of German ancestry
and was a very successful businessman who became wealthy in the early oil
fields of Pennsylvania after starting out as a barrel maker.
Young Frank enjoyed
an almost idyllic youth in Chittenango on Rose Lawn, the large estate owned by
his parents. He and his siblings
were tutored at home, but at age 12 his parents decided Frank needed strengthening
and he was sent off to Peekskill Military Academy where he lasted two years
before his parents allowed him to return home. Although Frank’s son, Frank Joslyn Baum, later claimed in
his much criticized biography of his father, To Please A Child, that his father suffered what was called a heart
attack while at Peekskill, there is no evidence to support a heart attack at 15
years old.
In his teens Frank
developed an interest in printing as the result of the gift of a small press
from his father. He and his brother,
Henry Clay Baum, published The Rose Lawn Home Journal, complete with
advertisements and this undoubtedly led to young Frank producing written
product for this and later journals he published on stamp collecting and the
raising of the Hamburg breed of chickens – both early interests and hobbies of
Frank's in addition to his love of fireworks.
By the time Frank was
in his twenties, he had developed an interest in theater and eventually his
father built him a theater in Richburg, NY. Baum began writing plays for his theater and also composed
songs for musicals. While he was
on tour with one of his plays, his theater was destroyed by fire along with the
only copies of his scripts from the time and all the theater’s costumes. The
production at the theater when it was destroyed was titled, Matches.
On November 9, 1882,
Frank Baum married Maud Gage, the daughter of well-known suffragette Matilda
Joslyn Gage. In 1888 Frank and
Maud moved to Aberdeen in the Dakota Territory where Frank opened a store
called “Baum’s Bazaar,” but it eventually ended in bankruptcy and Frank moved
on to the newspaper business where he wrote a column called Our Landlady for The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, which he also owned and edited. Following the Wounded Knee massacre,
Baum wrote a column that has generated much controversy since it was not
entirely clear whether it was Swiftian satire or a serious advocacy for the
total extermination of the indigenous native people.
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| Maud Gage Baum and her four sons (1900) |
In 1891, Baum’s
newspaper venture also failed. By
this time, he and Maud had four sons: Frank Joslyn Baum; Robert Stanton Baum;
Henry Clay Baum; and Kenneth Gage Baum.
They relocated to the
Humboldt Park section of Chicago and Frank became a reporter for the Evening Post. He also began writing
collections of stories and rhymes on the themes of Mother Goose. In 1899
his book of nonsense rhymes called Father
Goose, His Book was a major success and then in 1900 literary history was
made when a book
called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was
published. The book was an
immediate hit and became the best-selling children’s book for the next two
years. It was the first of
thirteen Land of Oz books authored by L. Frank Baum.
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| Gravestone of Frank and Maud Baum in Glendale, California |
L. Frank Baum died
following a stroke on May 5, 1919 -- nine days short of
his 63rd birthday. His
last words were supposedly, “Now we can cross the Shifting Sands.” At his death, L. Frank Baum was
survived by his wife, four sons and some grandchildren. Maud lived until just 21 days shy of
her 92nd birthday and died on March 6, 1953. She survived Frank by some 34 years. Both Frank and Maud are buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.
The photograph of L. Frank Baum (1911) was originally published by the Los Angeles Times. It is now in the public domain in the U.S. as a work where the copyright has expired because it first appeared prior to January 1, 1923. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baum_1911.jpg
The scanned image of the cover of The Land of Oz is from a personal copy of the book in the collection of the author.
The photograph of Maud Gage Baum with her four sons (1900) is now in the public domain in the U.S. as a work where the copyright has expired because it first appeared prior to January 1, 1923. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maud_Gage_Baum_and_Her_Four_Sons.jpg
The photograph of the gravestone of Maud and L. Frank Baum (October 5, 2009) is by Gregorius24 who has released the work into the public domain. See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L_Frank_Baum_grave-Forest_Lawn_Glendale,_CA-2009-10-05.jpg
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For more information
on L. Frank Baum, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum and The Writer’s Almanac, May 15, 2013
at http://app.info.americanpublicmediagroup.org/e/es?s=1715082578&e=17543&elq=84955c932dd845dc94e5278edb9213a7
For more information about Maud Gage
Baum, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Gage_Baum
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Copyright 2013, John
D. Tew
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