Edith Wharton was born January 24, 1862, into a family known as one of the pillars of New York society. Her parents, George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander Jones, descended from prosperous English and Dutch businessmen, which meant they belonged to New York’s elite “old money.” Such a position did not necessarily indicate that they had vast wealth; in fact, the family spent much of Wharton’s childhood in Europe, where her parents went to economize. Wharton would continue this bi-continental lifestyle as she grew older, until she settled permanently in Paris in the early 1900s. Although her mother discouraged Wharton’s academic pursuits, a beloved nanny and several governesses schooled Wharton privately at home, fostering her astounding intellect. She spoke several languages before the age of 10 and read voraciously in her father’s library. As an author she also showed great promise, writing a novel and a self-published book of poetry by the age of 16 (Verses, 1878). Writing, however, was not an acceptable occupation for young women of Wharton’s social class—only a proper marriage would suffice. At the age of 23, Wharton married the highly acceptable, somewhat older Edward (Teddy) Wharton from Boston’s elite.
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