Gene Stratton-Porter
| Gene Stratton-Porter | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 17, 1863 Lagro, Wabash County, Indiana |
| Died | December 6, 1924 (aged 61) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Naturalist, Author, Photographer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1900–1920 |
| Genre | Natural History |
| Subject | Nature |
Gene Stratton-Porter (August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924), born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American author, early naturalist, nature photographer. She used her position and income as a well-known author to support conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in the state of Indiana. She wrote several best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCall's. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world. Her novel, A Girl of the Limberlost, was adapted four times as a film.
She was born Geneva Grace Stratton in Wabash County, Indiana near Lagro. She was the twelfth and last child born to Mary and Mark Stratton. They had a farm. Early on, her family shortened her name to Geneve, and she later shortened it further to Gene.
Despite not finishing high school, Stratton became an avid reader and a lifelong scholar of ecology and wildlife.
Stratton married Charles Dorwin Porter in 1886. Of Scots-Irish descent, he was the son of a doctor and became a pharmacist, with stores in Geneva and Fort Wayne, Indiana. They had one daughter, Jeannette, born in 1887.
To be closer to his businesses, the Porters built a large home in Geneva. They named the Queen Anne-style rustic home as "Limberlost Cabin," after the nearby swamp where Stratton-Porter liked to explore.
She also spent much time photographing in the Limberlost Swamp. She set two of her most popular novels here, and it was the subject of many of her works of natural history. She became known as "The Bird Lady" and "The Lady of the Limberlost" to friends and readers.
Between 1888 and 1910, local farmers encouraged agricultural development by draining the wetlands using a steam-powered dredge. The "reclaimed" area was cultivated as farmland from 1910 to 1992. Because its habitat had been disrupted, it frequently flooded, destroying crops along with the flora and fauna documented in Stratton-Porter's books.
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