Mary Mapes Dodge (1831–1905)

Born in New York City, she married lawyer William Dodge at the age of twenty. Widowed seven years later, she began writing children's stories to support herself and her two sons. "Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates," her most famous book, was published in 1865. She became an associate editor of "Hearth and Home" in 1868 and in 1873 became the editor of "St. Nicholas," a new illustrated children's magazine to which she also contributed stories. Many of those stories were later published as collections. She continued as editor and contributor to "St. Nicholas" until her death at Onteora Park, New York.