Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in the family home at 439 North Oak Park Avenue at eight o'clock in the morning on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He was the second child of Dr. Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway's six children; he had four sisters and one brother. He was named after his maternal grandfather Ernest Hall (who was widowed and owned the family home Ernest was born in) and his great uncle Miller Hall.

The town of Oak Park was a mainly Protestant, an upper middle class suburb of Chicago, and only ten miles from the big city. It was basically a conservative town that tried to isolate itself from Chicago's liberal seediness. Hemingway was raised with conservative Midwestern values of strong religion, hard work, physical fitness and self determination; he was taught if one adhered to these parameters, he would be ensured of success in whatever field he chose.

As a boy Hemingway was taught by his father to hunt and fish along the shores and in the forest surrounding Lake Michigan, where the family had their summer house called Windemere on Walloon Lake in northern