She Was a Woman Before Her Time

She Was A Woman Before Her Time

Some called her Bird Woman or the Lady of the Swamp and both names seem to fit, Gene Stratton-Porter, equally well. Born, Geneva Grace Stratton, Aug. 17, 1863, in Wabash County, Indiana. Gene was an explorer at a very early age. Even at four years old, when her mother took ill, she still looked at life as a huge adventure. She wandered the family farm following the flight or the songs of the birds. She would even hand feed the babies.
When Gene married, Charles Darwin Porter, in 1885 they moved to the town of Geneva, which has very near the Limberlost Swamp. Gene went into the swamp almost daily to explore and study the birds and their habits. At first she wore a long sleeved shirt and ankle length skirt and knee-high boots, as was the excepted style of the day. After stepping on the hem of her skirt time after time and having it caked in mud, she switched to the comfort of pants. Those pants caused many a raised eyebrow and were considered scandalous to wear.
Gene sold some old family jewelry to buy a custom made camera and began to photograph the birds, moths, rare plants and flowers she found. Word spread around town about her interest in birds and someone told her about sighting a huge, fluffy, white, bird and described the area where they had seen it. Gene hunted until she discovered what turned out to be a baby turkey vulture. She spent many long hours taking pictures of him and watching his ungainly gait, then feeding him scraps of meat.
One night, Gene heard the hoot of a barn owl and with her hands to the side of her mouth, returned the call. To her amazement the owl responded, only closer this time. She and owl were calling back and forth, when suddenly the owl flew through her open window to the back of a chair. Gene closed the window and proceeded to take pictures clear through the next day. Then she released the owl that following evening at dusk.
One day while taking a series of bird pictures she happened to pull back the branch of a bush to give more light. There before her eyes was a most wonderful sight, a beautiful moth the size of the palm of her hand.
Gene started writing about her nature studies and submitted her work to different outdoor magazines. She wrote a column titled Camera Notes. Later she expanded her work into novels, taking what she knew about the swamp, adding bits and pieces of information about people from the area, and making her stories believable. She wrote such books as, Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, The Harvester, At the Foot of the Rainbow, Birds of the Bible, Music of the Wild, Moths of the Limberlost and The Keeper of the Bees, to name just a few.
Gene’s stories were read by thousands of people around the world. Many readers wrote letters to her explaining how her stories had touched their lives. She even received letters from young men in prison, wanting to turn their lives around to be like the characters in her books.
Besides sharing her love of nature, it was only natural that Gene would also speak out against its destruction. When loggers began to cut and harvest the trees and drain the swamp, she voiced her concern about loosing such a vast area that was home to so many birds, wild animals and rare plants. She was a woman way before her time, to understand the need and the importance of conservation. As we loose more and more land to urban sprawl, with pavement and shopping malls, it becomes more urgent to save what natural habitat we have left.
For Christmas in 1965, my grandfather gave me the book, Freckles. Although I was a very slow reader at the time I became totally absorbed in the story. Then I read her next book and another and another. For a country girl like myself, her books were like eating home made ice cream. I couldn’t get enough of them.
Gene Stratton-Porter wrote about the very things I loved to do; exploring the woods, discovering the songs of birds, catching butterflies & moths. This one writer gave my life new meaning. I was amazed that she was able to express my deepest feelings. It was as though she could peek into my soul, in the very same way that she did with each bird nest she found during her many trips into the Limberlost Swamp. I thank the Bird Woman for giving me the courage to explore and discover my own writing voice. May we all, as writers, spread our wings and fly.

Story ID:	756
Written by:	Cynthia Jo Ross (bio, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Lens to the Past
Story type:	Biography
Location:	Geneva Indiana USA
Year:	1863
Person:	Gene Stratton-Porter