By Barbara Selig and Mary Selig
A writer and publisher of children’s literature, Edward J. Stratemeyer was born to Henry J. Stratemeyer, and his wife Anna née Siegel who both immigrated from Hannover in 1837. Anna had been married to Edward’s brother George, who died of cholera in 1854, and she brought three boys into the marriage. Edward was the youngest of the three children they had together. The parents valued culture, music and education, and at home the family spoke English. Henry’s father, returning East after his gold-mining adventure had failed, became a leading businessman in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He ran a tobacco and cigar store and manufactured these products as well. He prospered enough that the family was able to leave their home above the shop and build their own stand-alone home. The older brothers also initially went into the tobacco business, where Edward worked upon graduation from high school. But his true passion was writing, and his talent was first displayed as a teenager. At that time what was then known as juvenile literature was coming into its own. Publishing became cheaper with the invention of new ways of printing and the availability of cheaper paper. The public education system increased literacy while separating children by age which created the need for age-specific literature.
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