The youngest of four surviving children, Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 1st 1875. His father was a civil war veteran, and had two other boys who did not survive infancy.

The loss of two children may have figured in his parent's desire to protect him when an influenza epidemic in Chicago began claiming lives in 1891. Two of his brothers were settled in Idaho and owned a cattle ranch, and so he was sent to live with them. Law enforcement in Idaho at the time had yet to gain the upper hand, and thus with dangers inherent to the area, his parents decided to move him again just six months later.

He was sent to continue his education at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, but he was unable to settle into the school, and found himself in trouble. Three years later in 1884 his family transferred him to Michigan Military Academy where his horsemanship skills proved useful, and the fact that he was not the most gentle of young men did not hinder his progress.

Despite a failed attempt at desertion in his first year he successfully graduated in 1885. He was offered a position instructing students, and did this for a year before moving on-this time wanting to go into service as an army officer.

This plan had to altered when he failed the West Point entrance exam, leaving him with enlisting as his only option. The chance remained to progress and train to be an officer after enlisting, so he put his previously acquired horsemanship skills into use with the 7th US Cavalry, in Fort Grant, Arizona Territory.

His ambitions of becoming an officer were further thwarted by his health when a medical exam discovered that he had a heart murmur. As he was no longer eligible to become an officer, he chose to seek discharge and left the army in 1897.

The next two years was split between several jobs. He returned for a while to his brother's ranch, and ran a store. Eventually he sought something more permanent, returning to Chicago in 1899 to work for the American Battery Company-a firm that his father ran.

The increased stability of his position convinced him to settle down, and in 1900 he married Emma Centennia Hulbert, who had been his sweetheart in childhood. His roving heart was unfortunately unable to remain in one place for long, and by 1904 he needed a change of scenery again.

He resigned his position with his father's company and they headed back to Idaho to join the gold dredging program that his brothers had taken to when they gave up the ranch. This program was nearing its end when they started, and so he was soon after left search for work.


The search left him in Salt Lake City working as a railway policeman. Still not happy, they headed back to Chicago again, where he drifted from job to job for the next few years.

His break into writing came in 1911 when he was working in pencil sharpener wholesale. Large chunks of his day were spent waiting for sales reps to return, though frequently they did not. He would spend this time checking the placement of the company adverts in pulp fiction magazines, and whilst doing so realized that he could write as well as writers whose serializations he was reading, and decided to try his hand at his own novel.

He wasn't completely new to writing at this point, having written several stories already for his own two children, Joan and Hulbert, and his nieces and nephews. One of these-Minidoka, 937th Earl of One Mile Series M was later printed by Dark Horse Comics.

All Story magazine picked up his first novel, entitled “Under the Moons of Mars” and ran it as a serialization from February to July of 1912. This story held several different author names through its publication history, starting with Normal Bean (to suggest the writer was not crazy) to Norman Bean at first publication, and then finally it carried his own name when it was published as a book in its own rights. He was paid $400 for this novel, which given his poor financial situation at the time was a huge sum.

Following the success of “Under the Moons of Mars” he continued to write. His second novel, “Outlaw of Torn” was rejected by the publisher, but by the time “Under the Moons of Mars” completed its run, novel number three was complete.

This was published in October 1912, and was called “Tarzan of the Apes”. His tenacious attempts to publish Tarzan through multiple types of media (against advice) bought him lasting fame that would long outlive him.

He was not content with this level of success and continued writing in many different genres, including those of prehistoric worlds, horror stories and those set on other planets. The couple's third child, John Coleman was then born in 1913.

The success of Tarzan led to another change for the family when, in 1919 he bought a large ranch north of Los Angeles-a place that they had fallen in love with on a previous vacation. The ranch was named Tarzana and over time a community grew up surrounding the ranch, that upon incorporation the residents voted to call Tarzana.

In 1923 he went into business on his own with the Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc company, beginning to publish his own books in the thirties. He divorced wife in 1934 and remarried just a year later to Florence Gilbert Dearholt, an actress with two children whom he adopted. The marriage lasted just seven years.

The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7th 1941 brought further changes for Edgar. America was now involved in the war, but he was too old to serve. Instead he decided to pursue war correspondence and successfully became the oldest of the American correspondents.

After the war he returned to America, buying a small house near Tarzana. It was here that he died of a heart attack on March 19th, 1950 at the age of 74.

Despite his passing, he remains well known through the popularity copious works.