Miss Santa Claus

About Annie Fellows Johnston

Annie Fellows Johnston was raised on a farm in MacCutchenville, Indiana. At seventeen, she attended the University of Iowa for one year, then returned to Evansville to work as a teacher. She married William L. Johnston, a widower with three children. When he died at a young age, she began her writing career in earnest. Her first book, Big Brother, was published in 1893, followed by Joel: A Boy of Galilee. In 1895, she was inspired by a visit to the leisurely and aristocratic Pewee Valley, Kentucky, where she met a spunky little Southern girl named Hattie. Annie returned to Evansville and wrote The Little Colonel in 1896, and it quickly became a success. In 1935, Twentieth Century Fox released a film version of The Little Colonel, with Shirley Temple in the lead.