The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Author Biography

Lyman Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York, to Cynthia and Benjamin Ward Baum. Benjamin was a wealthy barrel-maker and sawyer who made his fortune during the Pennsylvania oil rush. The Baums’ loss of four of their nine children in infancy and Frank’s heart condition led the parents to indulge and shelter their young son.

L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum

As an adult, Frank Baum had a wildly varied career. Over the years, he was a newspaperman, an actor, a playwright, an axle grease maker, a dime store owner, a salesman, a Hollywood entrepreneur, and a chicken breeder. While touring with an acting troupe performing his play The Maid of Arran, Baum met and fell in love with Maud Gage, the youngest daughter of suffragette Matilda Josilyn Gage. Although the elder Gage opposed the union, Maud was determined to marry Baum. They wed in 1882 and built a strong marriage as Maud provided stability for the family while Baum pursued his varied interests. The couple had four sons and moved frequently, eventually settling in Hollywood where medical care was available for Baum’s declining health.

Baum’s mother-in-law was impressed with the imaginative stories she heard Baum telling the children, and she encouraged him to submit them for publication. He did and soon found success as a children’s author. Father Goose: His Book (1899), a book of children’s verse, earned Baum critical acclaim. The following year, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. It was so successful that Baum’s readers demanded more Oz books. This ongoing demand assured Baum of income, and although he often tired of writing about Oz, he completed a total of fourteen books in the series. After his death, his publisher commissioned other writers to continue the series.

Baum died on May 16, 1919, after complications following gall bladder surgery. His weakened condition, combined with his lifelong heart problems, brought on a twenty-four-hour coma after which the author died in his Hollywood home.