Cass County NeArchives Biographies.....Aldrich, Bess Streeter 1903 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ne/nefiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 15, 2015, 11:21 am Source: Nebraskana Author: See below Bess Streeter Aldrich Bess Streeter Aldrich, distinguished writer of Nebraska pioneer and modern life, was born at Cedar Falls, Blackhawk County, Iowa, February 17, 1881. Her father, James Wareham Streeter, an early pioneer in Iowa, was born at Champlain, Clinton County, New York, October 26, 1826, and died at Cedar Falls, Iowa, March 7, 1907. In 1852, he came to Iowa with his father, Zimri Streeter, who became a member of the first Republican Iowa legislature. He is descended from Revolutionary ancestors, among them Dr. John Streeter and Captain Remember Baker. Mary Wilson (Anderson) Streeter, mother of Mrs. Aldrich, was born in Quebec, Canada, November 15, 1835, and died at Elmwood, Nebraska, August 16, 1916. She was the daughter of Basil and Margaret Anderson; the former a Scotch aristocrat and landed gentleman, the latter a peasant girl whose romantic marriage has been recorded in A Lantern in Her Hand. Mrs. Aldrich received here elementary education in the Iowa public schools and later was graduated from the Iowa State Teachers’ College. On September 24, 1907, she was united in marriage with Charles Sweetzer Aldrich at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Mr. Aldrich, a descendant of colonial ancestors, was a lawyer and banker. He was born at Tipton, Iowa, September 7, 1872, and died at Elmwood, May 3, 1925. There are four children: Mary Eleanor, born February 10, 1909, a graduate of the University of Nebraska and a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, Chi Delta Phi and Pi Lambda Theta; James Whitson, born January 19, 1912, a student at the Chicago Art Institute; Charles Stewart, born September 18, 1913; and Robert Streeter, born June 24, 1920. The two younger children are in public schools. Mrs. Aldrich is the author of one hundred short stories published in Century Magazine, American Magazine, The Bookman, Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Delineator, McCalls, Harper's Weekly, etc. Many of these have resold in England to Cassels, Pearsons, Woman's Pictorial, and Pan. Her story. The Man Who Caught the Weather, published in the Century Magazine, was chosen for the 1928 volume of the O. Henry Memorial Award. Her four books, all published by D. Appleton and Company, are: Mother Mason, published in 1924; The Rim of the Prairie, 1925; The Cutters, 1926; and A Lantern in Her Hand. The last has gone into its thirtieth edition, has been translated into the Dutch, German and Hungarian languages and is considered one of the outstanding novels of this decade. She is a member in the following professional organizations: Society of Midland Authors (Chicago); Nebraska State Press Association; Omaha Woman’s Press Club; Chi Delta Phi, national literary fraternity; Theta Sigma Chi, national journalistic fraternity; Altrusa Club; Nebraska State Writers’ Guild, of which she is past president; and the Quill Club of Lincoln. She is a member of the Van Fleet Memorial Methodist Church, the P. E. O., the Red Cross and The Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society. She is active in civic and religious affairs. The Kiwanis medal was awarded to her for distinguished service to the state for the year 1929. Her home The Elms, is at Elmwood, Nebraska. Additional Comments: Extracted from Nebraskana Edited by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin The Baldwin Company Hebron, NE 1932 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ne/cass/photos/bios/aldrich47gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ne/cass/bios/aldrich47gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nefiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb