Amelia Earhart

Breanna Jones
3/27/13

“I’ll try it first!” shouted seven-year old Amelia Earhart after building a homemade roller coaster with her uncle, two cousins, and sister Muriel. Amelia climbed into the cart that sat on top of old roller skates at the top of their grandfather’s tool shed. The car quickly zoomed down the track, and just as quickly zoomed right off. Amelia was thrown forward out of the cart and hit the ground, only to get immediately back up and try again. At that point in time no one knew, including Amelia, that she was on the path to becoming a world-famous adventurer and would be the center of a mystery that would baffle the world for more than 40 years to come. Some biographies state Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1898, but according to her birth and baptismal certificates, she was actually born in 1897 to Edwin and Amy Earhart, the first women to reach the top of Pikes Peak.. Edwin, Amelia’s father, was a lawyer for the railroad. His work often took him far away from home and Amelia’s mother, Amy, would usually travel with him leaving Amelia and her sister Muriel to mainly be raised by their grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Otis. Amelia, known as “Meely,” and Muriel, known as “Pigde,” would spend the school year with their grandparents, and the summers with their mother and father in Kansas City. Amelia’s grandparents were always shocked by her tomboy ways. Once, Amelia jumped over the fence instead of using the gate and was scolded for not being a proper young lady. Amelia’s parents however gave their daughters footballs, rifles, and boys sleds. Their father often took the girls on fishing trips and their mother would teach them all about anatomy while butchering chickens. There were often times when their parents would take the girls out of school to go on long trips with them. They felt anything unusual was educational. Amelia also loved to read, although she was bothered by the fact most of the stories were about or for boys. She wanted to read about the great women of her day and the past, not knowing that one day she would actually become one. At the age of nine Amelia’s life quickly began to change. Her family moved to Des Moines, Iowa where her father quickly lost his job. After that their family moved to St. Paul Minnesota where things went from bad to worse sense her father was once again out of work. Amelia’s family once again packed their things and moved to Springfield Missouri because her father was promised a job that ended up only being four weeks of work. Since her father could not support their family he moved to Kansas City to open a law office and Amelia, her mother and sister moved to Chicago to live with a friend of the family. Due to the constant moving it was very hard for Amelia to make friends and she was known as “the girl in brown who walks alone.” After graduating from high school, her family was reunited in Kansas City but she didn’t stay for long. She quickly left for the Orgontz school, near Philidelphia, with the hopes of going on to Bryn Mawr College. Much like her days in High School, Amelia was a great student yet found it very hard to make friends. Most of the girls she attended school with were from very wealthy families and could not relate to the struggles Amelia had been exposed to through out her childhood and were more interested in getting married. Due to her past,