~*Dr. Seuss' Childhood*~

Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2nd, 1904, at 22 Howard Street, but when he was two his family-- Theodor Robert Giesel, Henrietta [Seuss] Geisel, and four-year-old Margaretha Christine Geisel--settled at 74 Fairfield Street. He lived in a three story frame house, where he spent his early years as a tall, skinny, dark-haired, very intelligent little boy. Ted (which he preferred to Theodor)'s parents considered him to be very gifted. He had an early ear for rhyme in both English and the family's native tongue, German, the main language of the household. Perhaps some of the very odd names of Dr. Seuss's later characters came from surnames such as Wickershan, Terwilliger, and McElligot, all names of neighbors of his.

His town was full of successful people and businesses: G and C Merriam were some of the first dictionary producers, and they inspired Noah Webster the man who would later start Milton Bradley games lived in Springfield, too. Ted's father was the main disciplinarian in the household, but had an odd way of going about it. Whenever he got angry, he would ignore the offender, sometimes for the rest of their lives. He thought everyone to be perfect in everything they did. When Ted was two, his mother had a third child, a girl named Henrietta (after their mother). She died eighteen months later.