Amelia's Early Childhood...

Amelia's Early Childhood (ages 0 to 9)...

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis—a former judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank, and one of the town’s most prominent citizens. 

She was the second child of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart, and she came from a family of mixed heritage, including German ancestry. Amelia’s namesake came from both of her grandmothers—Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton—in keeping with family tradition.

From an early age, Amelia stood out as strong-willed and independent. She often took the lead over her younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart (affectionately called "Pidge"), who was born in 1899 and tended to be more compliant.

The Earhart children seemed to have a spirit of adventure and would set off daily to explore their neighbourhood. As a child, Amelia Earhart spent hours playing with sister Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle, and sledding downhill. Some biographers have characterized the young Amelia as a tomboy and they use to keep worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad.

In Atchison, Amelia enjoyed a relatively stable and nurturing environment. Her grandmother, in particular, instilled values of education and proper behavior, while Amelia’s natural curiosity often pushed against such constraints. By age 3 or 4, she was already demonstrating independence and a keen sense of adventure, qualities that would become trademarks throughout her life.

At just seven years old, inspired by a roller-coaster she saw at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, she and her sister Muriel built a homemade “roller coaster” on top of their tool shed using boards, a box, and a tub of lard—Amelia rode the contraption down, crash-landing but emerging exhilarated, and Amelia proclaimed the wild ride felt “just like flying” afterwards (This episode captures both her daring and her imagination: qualities that foreshadowed her aviation career decades later).

Amelia herself was nicknamed “Meeley” or “Millie”, and both sisters kept these nicknames well into adulthood. The Earhart household was anything but conventional. Amy Earhart believed in giving her daughters the freedom to explore and develop their own interests, rather than conforming to traditional expectations of “proper young ladies.” 

At this age, Amelia had not yet entered a traditional school system consistently; her education was piecemeal and often guided by her mother and grandmother. Her curiosity, however, was evident: she devoured books and enjoyed creating imaginary worlds during play.

While their maternal grandmother disapproved of the bloomers the girls wore, Amelia enjoyed the sense of freedom they gave her—even if she was aware that other neighborhood girls were dressed more traditionally.

Summary Table (Ages 0–9)