Editing Edith Wharton (section)

===Early life===
[[File:Edward Harrison May - Edith Wharton - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Portrait of Wharton as a child by [[Edward Harrison May]] (1870)]]

Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862, to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander, at their [[brownstone]] at 14 West Twenty-third Street in [[New York City]].{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=16}}{{sfn|Dwight|1994|pp=12–13}} To her friends and family, she was known as "Pussy Jones".{{sfn|Minkel|2012}} She had two elder brothers, Frederic Rhinelander and Henry Edward.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=16}} Frederic married [[Mary Cadwalader Rawle Jones|Mary Cadwalader Rawle]]; their daughter was landscape architect [[Beatrix Farrand]]. Edith was [[baptized]] April 20, 1862, [[Easter Sunday]], at [[Grace Church (Manhattan)|Grace Church]].{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=16}}

Wharton's paternal family, the Joneses, were a very wealthy and socially prominent family, having made their money in real estate.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=21}} The saying "[[keeping up with the Joneses]]" is said to refer to her father's family.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=22}}{{sfn|Benstock|1994|p=216}} She was related to the [[Manor of Rensselaerswyck|Rensselaers]], the most prestigious of the old [[patroon]] families, who had received land grants from the former Dutch government of New York and New Jersey. Her father's first cousin was [[Caroline Schermerhorn Astor]].{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=34}} Fort Stevens, in New York, was named for Wharton's maternal great-grandfather, [[Ebenezer Stevens]], a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] hero and general.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=18}}

Wharton was born during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].  However, in describing her family life, Wharton does not mention the war, except that their travels to Europe after the war were due to the depreciation of American currency.{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=16}}{{sfn|Lee|2008|pp=7–8}} From 1866 to 1872, the Jones family visited [[France]], [[Italy]], [[Germany]], and [[Spain]].<ref name="Chronology">{{cite web |title=Chronology |website=The Mount: Edith Wharton's Home |url=http://www.edithwharton.org/edith-wharton/chronology/ |access-date=December 4, 2014 |archive-date=May 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506085111/http://www.edithwharton.org/edith-wharton/chronology/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> During her travels, the young Edith became fluent in [[French (language)|French]], [[German (language)|German]], and [[Italian (language)|Italian]]. At the age of nine, she suffered from [[typhoid fever]], which nearly killed her, while the family was at a spa in the [[Black Forest]].{{sfn|Lee|2008|p=16}} After the family returned to the United States in 1872, they spent their winters in New York City and their summers in [[Newport, Rhode Island]].<ref name="Chronology"/> While in Europe, she was educated by tutors and [[governess]]es. She rejected the standards of fashion and [[etiquette]] that were expected of young girls at the time, which were intended to allow women to marry well and to be put on display at balls and parties. She considered these fashions superficial and oppressive. Edith wanted more education than she received, so she read from her father's library and from the libraries of her father's friends.<ref name="W. W. Norton & Company, Inc">{{cite book|last1=Baym|first1=Nina|year=2013|title=The Norton Anthology of American Literature |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-91885-4|edition=8th}}</ref> Her mother forbade her to read novels until she was married, and Edith obeyed this command.{{sfn|Lee|2008}}