Betty Smith

Elizabeth Lillian Wehner was born December 15th, 1896 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up poor and left school at age 14 to start working to support her family. Betty worked many odd jobs for five years including working in a factory making tissue flowers and working at a clipping bureau where her job was to read 200 newspapers a day.

In 1915 at the age of 19, Betty attended a girl's high school and became the editor of the school's newspaper. In 1918, Betty's mother remarried and Betty took her mother's new last name, becoming Betty Keogh. In 1919, Betty eloped with George Smith and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she finally became Betty Smith. Betty began attending the University of Michigan and taking play writing classes and began writing plays. One of her plays, 'Jonica Starrs' received the 1930 Avery Hope Award. From 1931 to 1934, Betty attended Yale University Drama School and continued to write plays, two of which were produced.

Betty and her husband legally separated in 1933 and were divorced in 1938. The next year, Betty won a $1,200 Rockefeller Fellowship and the year after that she received a $1,000 Rockefeller Dramatist Guild Award.In the late 1930's, Betty began writing an autobiographical novel which eventually became her most famous work, 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' (1943). That same year, Betty met Joe Jones, a newspaper columnist and the two married.

In the late 1930's, Betty began writing an autobiographical novel which eventually became her most famous work, 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' (1943). That same year, Betty met Joe Jones, a newspaper columnist and the two married.'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn' became such a success that Twentieth Century Fox almost immediately bought the film rights and made it into a movie. The movie is very successful, though most of the money it made went to the publisher.

'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn' became such a success that Twentieth Century Fox almost immediately bought the film rights and made it into a movie. The movie is very successful, though most of the money it made went to the publisher. By the end of 1945, Betty had earned over $100,000 from sales of the book alone.

In 1948, Betty published another novel, 'Tomorrow Will Be Better'. Three years later, in 1951, Betty separated from Joe Jones and began seeing another man, Bob Finch, whom she had dated previously. The two married in 1957. In 1958 and 1962, respectively, Betty published her last two novels, 'Maggie-Now' and 'Joy in the Morning'.

By this time Betty was 66 years old. On January 17th, 1972, Betty Smith died of pneumonia in Shelton, Connecticut. She is buried in Chapel Hill, Connecticut next to her last husband.