Baum, L. Frank
Baum, L. Frank [Lyman Frank Baum] (1856–1919),American author of the Oz books and other fantasies for children. Born in Chittenango, New York, Baum enjoyed a sheltered and prolonged childhood on his family's country estate, Rose Lawn. Because of a heart defect, he was educated at home—except for a miserable two years at Peekskill Military Academy—and his father, a prosperous oil man and banker, willingly financed his hobbies. When Baum decided on a stage career, his father bought him an acting company, enabling him to play the lead in his own melodrama, The Maid of Arran (1882). After his father and older brother died, however, the family business collapsed, and Rose Lawn was sold. Baum and his wife—he had married Maud Gage, daughter of a famous woman suffragist—went west to Aberdeen, Kansas, investing first in a variety store, then in a newspaper, both of which soon failed. The family, now with four sons, moved to Chicago...
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