Dorothy Straight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May 25, 1958
Belinda Booth Crompton
Dorothy Straight | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dorothy Elmhirst Straight May 25, 1958 |
| Known for | Youngest author |
| Works | How the World Began |
| Parent(s) | Michael Whitney Straight Belinda Booth Crompton |
| Relatives | Willard D. Straight (grandfather) Dorothy Payne Whitney (grandmother) |
Dorothy Elmhirst Straight[1] (born May 25, 1958) is an American author who wrote How the World Began in 1962 at the age of 4[2] for her grandmother, Dorothy Payne Whitney,[3] making her among the youngest published authors in history.[4]
Dorothy Straight was born on May 25, 1958, in Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Michael Whitney Straight (1916–2004) and Belinda Booth Crompton (1920–2015).[1] Her siblings include David Straight, Michael Straight Jr., Susan Straight, and Dinah Straight.[5]
Straight was named after her paternal grandmother, Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887–1968), the daughter of William Collins Whitney, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy during the Cleveland administration, and Flora Payne, the daughter of Senator Henry B. Payne of Ohio and sister of Col. Oliver Hazard Payne.[6] Straight's paternal grandfather was Willard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918), the son of Henry Harrison Straight (1846–1886). After her grandfather died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic, while serving with the United States Army in France during World War I,[7] her grandmother married Leonard Knight Elmhirst (1893–1974). Her father's siblings included Whitney Willard Straight and Beatrice Whitney Straight, an Academy Award winning actress.[5] Her maternal grandmother, Lillian Crompton Tobey,[8] was the widow of U.S. Senator Charles Tobey (1880–1953).[1]
