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Chronology
1876 Born John Griffith Chaney, January 12, in San Francisco to Flora
Wellman, common-law wife of William Henry Chaney. She married John
London on September 7, and Jack took his surname.
1891 Bought sloop Razzle Dazzle and became an oyster pirate on San
Francisco Bay.
1893 Served eight months as a seaman aboard sealing vessel Sophia
Sutherland. His "Story of a Typhoon off the Coast of Japan" won
first prize in a contest sponsored by the San Francisco Call.
1894 Worked as laborer; tramped "on the road" with Coxey's Industrial
Army of the Unemployed and then on his own; served 30-day sentence
for vagrancy. His 1907 book, The Road, was based on these
experiences.
1895 Attended Oakland High School; his articles and short stories
appeared in The High School Aegis.
1896 Joined the Socialist Labor Party.
1897 Left the University of California after one semester. Worked in a
laundry before leaving for Alaska in July for the Klondike gold
rush. Returned to Oakland in July, 1898.
1898 Submitted "A Thousand Deaths" to The Black Cat magazine, which
published the story in May, 1899. The "first money I ever received
for a story."
1899 "To the Man on Trail" published in the Overland Monthly.
1900 "An Odyssey of the North" published in the Atlantic Monthly in
January. Married Bess Maddern on April 7; Published his first
book, The Son of the Wolf.
1901 Daughter Joan born on January 15.
1902 Second daughter Bess born on October 20. Lived for six weeks
(August-September) among the poor in the East End of London,
England, leading to The People of the Abyss. Published A Daughter
of the Snows (his first novel), Children of the Frost and
The Cruise of the Dazzler.
1903 Published The Call of the Wild, The Kempton-Wace Letters
(written with Anna Strunsky), and The People of the Abyss.
1904 War correspondent for Russo-Japanese War. Bess Maddern London
filed for divorce. Published The Sea Wolf and The Faith of Men.
1905 Purchased his first 129 of the eventual 1400 acres of the
Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley. Married
Charmian Kittredge. Published War of the Classes, The Game, and
Tales of the Fish Patrol.
1906 Began building schooner Snark for projected seven-year,
round-the-world voyage. Reported San Francisco earthquake.
Published Moon-Face and Other Stories, White Fang, and
Scorn of Women.
1907 Snark, with Jack, Charmian and crew, sailed to Hawaii,
Marquesas Islands, and Tahiti. Published Before Adam,
Love of Life and Other Stories, and The Road.
1908 Snark continued to Samoa, Fiji Islands, New Hebrides,
Solomon Islands, and Australia, where Jack and Charmian were
hospitalized and forced to abandon cruise. Published The Iron
Heel.
1909 Returned to Glen Ellen. Published Martin Eden.
1910 Step-sister Eliza London Shepard became ranch superintendent.
Daughter Joy born on June 19, died on June 21. Published Lost
Face, Revolution and Other Essays, Burning Daylight,
and Theft: A Play in Four Acts.
1911 Spent summer driving wagon and four horses to Oregon and back,
with Charmian and valet Yoshimatsu Nakata. Published When God
Laughs and Other Stories, Adventure, The Cruise of the Snark,
and South Sea Tales.
1912 With Charmian, sailed aboard the Dirigo from Baltimore to
Seattle around Cape Horn. Published The House of Pride and Other
Tales of Hawaii, A Son of the Sun, and Smoke Bellew.
1913 Wolf House destroyed by fire. Attended San Francisco premier
of The Sea Wolf, the first feature-length film produced in the U.S.
Published The Night Born, The Abysmal Brute, John Barleycorn, and
The Valley of the Moon.
1914 Went to Vera Cruz to report on the Mexican Revolution,
then left for Hawaii after returning to Glen Ellen for health.
Published The Strength of the Strong and The Mutiny of the
Elsinore.
1915 Sailed to Hawaii in February and again in December.
Published The Scarlet Plague and The Star Rover.
1916 Resigned from the Socialist Party. Returned from Hawaii
in July. Died at the Beauty Ranch on November 22. Published
The Acorn-Planter: A California Forest Play, The Little Lady of
the Big House, and The Turtles of Tasman.
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