Editing Lydia Maria Child (section)

==Early life and education==
Lydia Maria Francis was born in Medford, Massachusetts, on February 11, 1802, to Susannah (née Rand) and Convers Francis. She went by her middle name, and pronounced it Ma-RYE-a.<ref name="Lydia Maria Child">{{cite web |title=Lydia Maria Child |url=http://staging.nyhistory.org/sites/default/files/newfiles/cwh-curriculum/Module%202/Life%20Stories/Lydia%20Marie%20Child%20Life%20Story.pdf?_ga=2.195030565.962624527.1533043200-405908906.1500492903 |website=Center for Women's History |publisher=New-York Historical Society |access-date= July 31, 2018 |archive-date= July 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731213319/http://staging.nyhistory.org/sites/default/files/newfiles/cwh-curriculum/Module%202/Life%20Stories/Lydia%20Marie%20Child%20Life%20Story.pdf?_ga=2.195030565.962624527.1533043200-405908906.1500492903 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her older brother, [[Convers Francis]], was educated at [[Harvard]] College and Seminary, and became a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister. Child received her education at a local dame school and later at a women's seminary. Upon the death of her mother, she went to live with her older sister in [[Maine]], where she studied to be a teacher. During this time, her brother Convers, by then a Unitarian minister, saw to his younger sister's education in literary masters such as [[Homer]] and [[John Milton|Milton]]. In her early 20s, Francis lived with her brother and met many of the top writers and thinkers of the day through him. She also converted to Unitarianism.<ref name="Lydia Maria Child"/>

Francis chanced to read an article in the ''[[North American Review]]'' discussing the field offered to the novelist by early [[New England]] history. Although she had never thought of becoming an author, she immediately wrote the first chapter of her novel ''[[Hobomok]]''. Encouraged by her brother's commendation, she finished it in six weeks and had it published. From this time until her death, she wrote continually.<ref name="appletons"/>

Francis taught for one year in a [[seminary]] in Medford, and in 1824 started a private school in [[Watertown, Massachusetts]]. In 1826, she founded the ''[[Juvenile Miscellany]]'', the first monthly periodical for children published in the United States, and supervised its publication for eight years.<ref name="appletons">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Child, David Lee|year=1900}}</ref> After publishing other works voicing her opposition to slavery, much of her audience turned against her, especially in the South. ''The'' ''Juvenile Miscellany'' closed down after book sales and subscriptions dropped.<ref name="Lydia Maria Child"/>

In 1828, she married [[David Lee Child]] and moved to Boston.