Porter, Gene Stratton (1863-1924), was an American writer of sentimental outdoor stories. Her novel Freckles (1904) enjoyed sales of nearly 2 million copies. Other novels, such as A Girl of the Limberlost (1909), The Harvester (1911), and Laddie (1913), became almost as popular.
Porter was born on Aug. 17, 1863, in Wabash County, Indiana, which she used as the setting for Freckles. She died on Dec. 6, 1924.