Eugene Field, son of Roswell and Frances Maria Reed Field, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 3, 1850. After a few reportedly half-hearted attempts in higher education, Field traveled in Europe for six months. By 1875, he had returned to Missouri, where in 1875 he began a career in journalism at the St. Joseph Gazette. That same year, he married Julia Sutherland Comstock (1856-1936); the couple would have eight children. After rising to the position of editor at the Register, Field moved to St. Louis, where he worked as an editorial writer for the city's Morning Journal and, later, the Times-Journal. He then served as managing editor of the Kansas City Times and for two years as editor of the Denver Post. In 1883, Field went to work as a humor columnist for the Chicago Daily News. For his many poems for and about children, Field came to be known as the "poet of childhood." Eugene Field died in Chicago on November 4, 1895, and was buried in Church of the Holy Comforter Courtyard, Kenilworth (Cook County), Illinois.