Ernest Hemingway was born on 21st July 1899 in Oak Park, Chicago, USA.

He was the second of six children. He was born at eight o'clock in his grandfather's house which was located at 439 North Oak Park Avenue.

He weighed a healthy nine and a half pounds and measured twenty three inches tall.

At seven weeks old he was taken to Bear Lake, to the shorefront property that his father, Dr Ed Hemingway had purchased the summer before.

It was not until October 1st, on his parent's third wedding anniversary that he was christened, Ernest Miller Hemingway at the First Congregational Church.

In his first year he experienced the pleasures of life on the shore at Bear Lake and at three he had caught his first fish. His mother described him at three and a half years of age as:

" Ernest Miller is a little man - no longer lazy - dresses himself completely and is a good helper for his father. He wears suspenders just like Papa. Is very proud to be a member of Agassiz (a nature study group organised by his father). He counts up to 100, can spell by ear very well. He likes to build cannons and forts with building blocks. He collects cartoons of the Russo-Japanese War. He loves stories about Great Americans - can give you good sketches of all the great men of American History"

He sounded, even then, like an exceptional child.

When Hemingway was six, his grandfather died and the Hemingway family left his grandfather's house (and the house Ernest Hemingway was born in) and moved to a corner lot at 600 North Kenilworth Avenue and Iowa Street. It was an eight bedroomed, three storey house, with an office for his father, where he could conduct his medical business.

It was a strict household, no enjoyment was to be taken on Sunday, the Lord's day. This was to be spent in church and pursuing religious interests. Disobedience was punished by a few lashes from a razor strap administered by Hemingway's father, or a hairbrush from his mother.

Ernest's mother taught all her children music and creativity and took them to concerts, art galleries and operas.

Ernest's father taught his children to love nature. To build fires, to cook in the open, how to use an axe, how to tie wet and dry flies, how to make bullets, how to prepare birds and small animals for mounting. He insisted on the proper handling of guns, rods and tackle and he taught Ernest physical courage and endurance.

Ernest's winters were spent in Chicago, his summers at Bear Lake.

It was on his twelve birthday he was given a present of a single barrel 20 gauge shotgun. Ernest loved to dramatize everything. He made up stories in which he was invariably the swashbuckling hero.

He was also now singing regularly at the Third Congregational Church and was making his first attempts at writing.

On reaching adolescence Ernest had developed into a 'well rounded' young man. 'Afraid of nothing' appeared to be his motto. He loved nature and he sought scrupulously to uphold the code of physical courage and endurance and he had a determination to 'do things properly'.

He attended high school at The Oak Park and River Forest Township High School. Academically he was good at English but uninterested in most other subjects. He learnt to box and it was said there was a streak of bully in his nature, after he learnt the power of his fists. He took up canoeing and he wrote articles for the school's weekly newspaper.

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Literary Pieces by Kelley Dupuis

Kelley Dupuis is one of the most informative people on Hemingway we have ever come across and he has written a number of pieces for this web site:

Turgenev's Influences on Hemingway

Hemingway's Journeys To War

Max Perkins

Ernest Hemingway in Cuba

Ernest Hemingway and the Cult of the "Celebrity Artist"

Papa's Good Eats Cafe

Scott and Ernest...A Logical Friendship