Holman, Zena G.

Administrative History

Born John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, Jack London was an American author, journalist, and social activist best known as the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang. Jack's parents, Flora Wellman and William Chaney were unmarried and subsequently, Chaney deserted Flora before Jack was born. A few months later Flora met and married widowed Civil War veteran John London, who had two daughters, Eliza and Ida. The family settled in Oakland. Eliza became a second mother to Jack even after her marriage to Captain J.H. Shepard.

Jack spent many hours in the Oakland Library, mentored by librarian Ina Coolbrith and later befriended by reference librarian, fellow socialist, and founder of the Ruskin Club, Frederick Irons Bamford. In 1890, Jack graduated from Cole Grammar School and went to work at Hickmott's Cannery in Oakland. London quit work in 1892 and became an oyster pirate, served on a fish patrol, sailed on a sealing ship, joined Kelly's Army of unemployed men, and tramped around the country until late 1894 when he returned home to attend high school at age 19. Jack embraced socialism as a consequence of his exposure to poverty and social injustice during his travels. He joined the Socialist Labor Party in 1896.

Always a prolific reader, Jack was determined to become a writer to escape the factory life. In 1893 he won the $25 prize in the San Francisco Morning Call contest for best descriptive article for "Story of a Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan." He submitted stories to various publications, generally without success. He attended high school for one year before his admittance to the University of California, Berkeley. He soon quit school to seek his fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, returning home the next year to undertake writing as a profession. His first novel, The Son of the Wolf, was published in 1905.

In 1900, Jack married Elizabeth "Bess" Maddern, with whom he had two daughters, Joan and Bess. He divorced Bess in 1905 and married Charmian Kittredge. The same year London bought a ranch in Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, CA and called it "Beauty Ranch," with Eliza as ranch superintendent. In 1907, the couple sailed the South Pacific on their yacht, the Snark, before heading for home after Jack contracted tropical diseases, which he treated with mercury-based medicine. Back home in 1909, the London's continued to add to the ranch and started construction of "Wolf House," which was destroyed by fire in 1913.

Jack London died of uremia aggravated by an accidental morphine overdose on November 22, 1916. At the time of his death, he suffered from dysentery and uremia and late stage alcoholism. His ashes were buried near the Wolf House ruins in Jack London State Historic Park. London prodigiously penned novels, non-fiction, essays, plays, and short stories becoming the first living author to achieve worldwide commercial and critical success.

From the guide to the Zena G. Holman Jack London Collection, 1888-1971, (bulk 1900-1927), (Diablo Vista District Archives)