Helen Hooven Santmyer

Helen Hoover Santmyer was a literary fiction author from Cincinnati Ohio best known for her debut novel “…And Ladies of the Club.” She was born to a father that was a medical student before he decided to pursue business. He moved to Xenia and got a job with rope manufacturer RA Kelly Company. Since she was a ten year old child, she had dreamed of becoming an author and kept a diary where she would write her musings. She was inspired by her grandfathers both of whom served on the Union side of the Civil War. As a teen, she went to Wellesley College and during her undergraduate years she started publishing her poetry. Just like most of her classmates were influenced by “A Book of Princeton Verse” written by several Princeton students going back several years. By 1917 she was writing in “The Wellesley College Magazine.”