Short story writer and novelist, who wrote about the new settlers living and struggling on the midwestern prairies. She won her first writing prizes at 14 and 17 years of age. Born Bess Gevra Streeter in 1881 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She married Charles Sweetzer Aldrich in 1906. After several years, the couple moved to Elmwood, Nebraska. The writer's professional career became profitable, when a short story was bought by the Ladies Home Journal in 1911. Her husband, Charles Aldrich, died in 1925. The widow worked diligently to support her children and herself. She received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Nebraska in 1934. Bess Streeter Aldrich moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1945. The author died in 1954 and is buried in Elmwood cemetery.