For Whom the Bell Tolls (photo)

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, was a physician, and his mother, Grace Hall-Hemingway, was a musician. Both were well-educated and well-respected in the conservative community of Oak Park, a community about which resident Frank Lloyd Wright said, So many churches for so many good people to go to. For a short period after their marriage, Clarence and Grace Hemingway lived with Graces father, Ernest Hall, who eventually became their first sons namesake. Later Ernest Hemingway would say that he disliked his name, which he associated with the naive, even foolish hero of Oscar Wildes play The Importance of Being Earnest.