Profile Text
Birth Name: John Ernst Steinbeck III
Date of Birth: February 27, 1902
Place of Birth: Salinas, Monterey, California, United States
Date of Death: December 20, 1968
Place of Death: New York City, New York, U.S.
Ethnicity: * father – German, English * mother – Irish/Northern Irish
John Steinbeck was an American author and novelist. He wrote the novels Cup of Gold , To a God Unknown , Tortilla Flat , In Dubious Battle , The Grapes of Wrath , Cannery Row , The Wayward Bus , East of Eden , Sweet Thursday , The Winter of Our Discontent , and The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights ; the novellas The Red Pony , Of Mice and Men , The Moon Is Down , The Pearl , Burning Bright , and The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication ; and the short story collections The Pastures of Heaven and The Long Valley . He also wrote the non-fiction books Their Blood is Strong , The Log from the Sea of Cortez , Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team , A Russian Journal , Once There Was a War , Travels with Charley: In Search of America , America and Americans , Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters , and Steinbeck in Vietnam: Dispatches from the War . He wrote the films The Forgotten Village , The Red Pony (1949), and Viva Zapata! ; and co-wrote the film The Pearl . He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.
He was the son of Olive, a school teacher, and John Ernst Steinbeck, a Monterey County treasurer. His father was born in Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts. His mother was born in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. His family were members of the Episcopal Church. He later became agnostic. John was married to actress and stage manager Elaine Anderson Steinbeck (born Mary Elaine Anderson), until his death. He had two children, screenwriter, photographer, and journalist Thomas Steinbeck and journalist and author John Steinbeck IV, with his former wife Gwyn Conger.
John’s paternal grandfather was Johann/Johan/John Ernst Adolph Grossteinbeck/Steinbeck (the son of Johann Peter Grossteinbeck and Maria Gertrudis/Gerdrut/Gertrud Loeckenhof/Loeckenhoff/Lockenhoff). John’s grandfather Johann was born in Heiligenhaus, Kreis Mettmann, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; his family’s farm, named Großsteinbeck, was in Heiligenhaus. He was a founder of messianic farming colony Mount Hope, in then-Ottoman Palestine. The colony was said to have disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother’s wife and mother-in-law. Johann arrived in the U.S. in 1858. John’s great-grandfather Johann was born in Rheinland-Pfalz, the son of Wilhelm Leonard GrossSteinbeck and Maria Gertrud Eilikum. John’s great-grandmother Maria was born in Rheinland-Pfalz, the daughter of Johann Peter Loeckenhoff and Anna Christina Kappel.
John’s paternal grandmother was Alimira Ann Dickson (the daughter of Walter Dickson and Sarah Eldredge/Eldridge). Alimira was born in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and was of Colonial American (English) descent. Walter was born in Groton, the son of Walter Dickson and Anna Tufts. John’s great-grandmother Sarah was born in Dunstable, Middlesex, the daughter of Dr. Micah Eldredge/Eldridge and Sarah “Sally”/Salley Buttrick.
John’s maternal grandfather was Samuel Hamilton (the son of John Hamilton and Esther Clarke). Samuel was born in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and was described as “one of the oldest settlers in the Salinas valley” in his obituary.
John’s maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Fagen/Fagan (the daughter of Mike Fegon and Elizabeth Carter). Elizabeth was born in New York City, New York, to Irish parents.
Sources: Genealogies of John Steinbeck – https://www.wikitree.com https://www.findagrave.com https://www.geni.com https://famouskin.com