Though Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth was born in Buffalo, New York on May 31, 1893, she lived in Massachusetts and Maine for most of her life. At the young age of 5, she lived both in the Alps and the Egyptian deserts. In 1929, Elizabeth was married to the author of Outermost House , Henry Beston. After the marriage, the couple divided their time between an old house overlooking the harbor of Hingham, Massachusetts, and "Chimney Farm" located in Maine. Elizabeth was very acomplished in the area of literature and writing. Not only did she write poetry such as Compass Rose , 1929, but also as a novelist ( Here I Stay , 1938), author of children's stories ( The Cat Who Went to Heaven , 1930), and a New England chronicler in Maine Ways , in 1947. She wrote at her best when writing about animals in the foreground and a background consisting of farming and seafaring.