Personal Timeline of Edgar Lee Masters 1868-1950 Prepared by Natalie N. Jeckel, Millikin University 1868 Edgar Lee Masters is born August 1903-1908 Law partnership with 23 in Garnett, Kansas, son of Hardin W. Clarence Darrow. Masters and Emma Dexter Masters. Two daughters born, Madeline and Marcia. 1869 Masters family returns to the New Star Chamber (1904). Illinois farm of Harding’s parents in Plays: The Blood of the Prophets (1905), Menard County near Pertersburg. Althea (1907), The Trifler (1908). 1870-1880 Spends childhood in and 1909 Play, The Leaves of the Tree. around Petersburg, Illinois. Affair with Tennessee Mitchell; wife Younger brother Alexander dies of refuses to divorce him. diphtheria, age five, in 1878. Best friend Mitch Miller dies 1879. 1910 Plays, Eileen and The Locket. Songs and Sonnets published under 1880-1890 Family moves to Lewistown, pseudonym Webster Ford. Illinois. Masters attends Lewistown high school, 1911 Sets up private law practice. graduating in 1886. Ends affair with Tennessee Mitchell. Publishes his first writing in Chicago Play, The Bread of Idleness. Daily News. Works in his father’s law office. 1912 Songs and Sonnets, Second Series. 1891-1892 Admitted to the Illinois Bar. 1914 "Spoon River" epitaphs appear Moves to Chicago. under pseudonym Webster Ford in Works as bill collector for Edison Reedy’s Mirror on May 29. Company. Masters reveals authorship in November. 1893 Establishes first law office in 1915 Spoon River Anthology in book Chicago with Kicksham Scanlon. form. Writes play Benedict Arnold. 1916 The Great Valley and Songs and 1898 A Book of Verses. Satires, poems. Marries Helen Jenkins on June 21. New edition of Spoon River Anthology with thirty-two new poems. 1899 Son Hardin Masters born. 1917-1919 Leaves wife and family. 1900-1902 "The Constitution and Our Toward the Gulf (1918), Starved Rock Insular Possessions." (1919), poems. Maximillion, a play. Articles in Chicago Chronicle. 1920 Gives up law practice and moves 1931 Godbey, A Dramatic Poem, sequel to New York. to Jack Kelso. Domesday Book, long poetic narrative. Lincoln: The Man, biography. Mitch Miller, novel for boys. 1932-1934 The Tale of Chicago (1933), history. 1921 The Open Sea, poems. The Serpent in the Wilderness (1933), Trip to Europe. poems. Wife begins divorce litigation. Moroni, Richmond, four Dramatic Duologues, plays. 1922 Children of the Marketplace, A 1935 Vachel Lindsay: A Poet in Fictitious Autobiography, biography of America, biography. Stephen Douglas. Invisible Landscapes, poems. 1923 The Nuptial Flight, novel. 1936 Autobiography, Across Spoon Skeeters Kirby, sequel to Mitch Miller. River. Divorce final. The Golden Fleece of California, poetic narrative. 1924 Mirage, sequel to Skeeters Kirby. Poems of People. The New Spoon River, collection of Awarded Mark Twain silver medal. poems similar to those in Spoon River 1937 The New World, long narrative Anthology. poem. 1925 Selected Poems. The Tide of Time, novel. Extensive Lecture Tour. Whitman, biography. 1938 Mark Twain: A Portrait, 1926 Lee, A Dramatic Poem. biography. Marries Ellen Coyne, thirty years his 1939 More People, poems. junior. 1940 Edits The Living Thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1927 Kit O’Brien, boys’ book. 1941 Poetry Society of America Award. Levy Mayer and the New Industrial Era, Illinois Poems. biography. 1942 Along Illinois, poetry. The Sangamon, non-fiction. 1928 Jack Kelso, A dramatic poem. Received grant from American Academy Son born to Ellen Coyne Masters, named of Arts and Letters and National Hilary Masters. Institute of Arts and Letters. Father, Hardin Masters dies. 1943-1949 Health deteriorates. 1929 Fate of the Jury, epilogue to Received Shelley Memorial Award Domesday Book. (1944) 1930 Lichee Nuts, poems, and 1950 Dies March 5 and is buried Gettysburg, Manila, Acoma, dramatic poetry. at Oakland Cemetery in Petersburg, Illinois. .