Editing Amelia Earhart (section)

=== Childhood ===
[[File:Amelia Earhart birthplace from NE 1.JPG|thumb|[[Amelia Earhart Birthplace|Amelia Earhart's birthplace]]]]

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in [[Atchison, Kansas]], as the daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867–1930) and Amelia "Amy" ({{née|[[Otis family|Otis]]}}; 1869–1962).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060901135618/http://oasis.harvard.edu:10080/oasis/deliver/~sch00228 "A/E11/M-129, Earhart, Amy Otis, 1869–1962. Papers, 1944, n.d.: A Finding Aid."] ''Harvard University Library.'', September 1, 2006. (archived). accessed: June 3, 2012.</ref> Amelia was born in the [[Amelia Earhart Birthplace|home of her maternal grandfather]] Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), who was a former judge in Kansas, the president of Atchison Savings Bank, and a leading resident of the town.<ref>{{cite book|title=Genealogical and biographical record of north-eastern Kansas|location=Chicago|publisher=Lewis Publishing|page=28|year=1900|isbn=978-5-87160-647-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0QHAwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Earhart was the second child of the marriage after a stillbirth in August 1896.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=8}} She was of part-[[German American|German]] descent; Alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and was not satisfied with Edwin's progress as a lawyer.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=9}}

According to family custom, Amelia Earhart was named after her two grandmothers Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=8}} From an early age, Amelia was the dominant sibling while her sister [[Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey|Grace Muriel Earhart]] (1899–1998), two years her junior, acted as a dutiful follower.<ref>[http://www.ninety-nines.org/grace-muriel-earhart-morrissey.htm "Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130001159/http://www.ninety-nines.org/grace-muriel-earhart-morrissey.htm |date=November 30, 2015 }} ''The Ninety-Nines''. accessed: June 3, 2012.</ref> Amelia was nicknamed "Meeley" and sometimes "Millie", and Grace was nicknamed "Pidge"; both girls continued to answer to their childhood nicknames well into adulthood.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=8}} Their upbringing was unconventional; Amy Earhart did not believe in raising her children to be "nice little girls".{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|pp=8–9}} The children's maternal grandmother disapproved of the [[Bloomers (clothing)|bloomers]] they wore, and although Amelia liked the freedom of movement they provided, she was sensitive to the fact the neighborhood's girls wore dresses.

[[File:ameliachild.jpg|thumb|left|Amelia Earhart as a child]]
The Earhart children seemed to have a spirit of adventure and would set off daily to explore their neighborhood.{{sfn|Randolph|1987|p=16}} As a child, Amelia Earhart spent hours playing with sister Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle, and sledding downhill.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120412224805/http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/media/uploads/special_features/download_files/amelia_transcript.pdf "American Experience: Amelia Earhart Program Transcript."] ''americanexperience'', April 12, 2012. accessed: September 23, 2017.</ref> Some biographers have characterized the young Amelia as a [[tomboy]].{{sfn|Rich|1989|p=4}} The girls kept worms, moths, [[Tettigoniidae|katydids]] and a [[tree toad]] they gathered in a growing collection.{{sfn|Lovell|1989|p=14}} In 1904, with the help of her uncle, Amelia Earhart constructed a home-made ramp that was fashioned after a roller coaster she had seen on a trip to [[St. Louis, Missouri]], and secured it to the roof of the family tool shed. Following Amelia's well-documented first flight, she emerged from the broken wooden box that had served as a sled with a bruised lip, a torn dress and a "sensation of exhilaration", saying: "Oh, Pidge, it's just like flying!"{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=9}}

In 1907, Edwin Earhart's job as a claims officer for the [[Rock Island Railroad]] led to a transfer to [[Des Moines, Iowa]]. The next year, at the age of 10,<ref name="Biography">[http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html "Biography.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525154635/http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html |date=May 25, 2012 }} ''The Official Website of Amelia Earhart (The Family of Amelia Earhart)''. accessed: June 4, 2012.</ref> Amelia saw her first [[fixed-wing aircraft|aircraft]] at [[Iowa State Fair]] in Des Moines.{{sfn|Goldstein|Dillon|1997|p=14}}{{sfn|Morrissey|1963|pp=17–18}} Their father tried to interest his daughters in taking a flight but after looking at the rickety "flivver", Amelia promptly asked if they could go back to the merry-go-round.{{sfn|Randolph|1987|p=18}} She later described the biplane as "a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting".{{sfn|Lovell|1989|p=15}}