Editing Edna Ferber (section)

===Early years===
Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in [[Kalamazoo, Michigan]], to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, Jacob Charles Ferber, and his [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]–born wife, Julia (Neumann) Ferber, who was of German Jewish descent.  The Ferbers had moved to Kalamazoo from [[Chicago, Illinois]], in order to open a dry goods store, and her older sister Fannie was born there three years earlier.<ref name=ferber-auto>{{cite book |last1=Ferber |first1=Edna |title=A Peculiar Treasure |date=1939 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran and Co. |location=New York |page=18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kinQAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Her+father%2C+Jacob+Charles+Ferber%2C+was+a+Hungarian+Jew%2C+and+her+mother%2C%22&pg=PA191|title=Looking Backward: True Stories from Chicago's Jewish Past|isbn=9780897338271|last1=Roth|first1=Walter|date=August 2005|publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref>{{sfn|Gilbert|2000|p=1}}
Ferber's father was not adept at business,{{sfn|Ferber|1939|p=18}} and the family moved often during Ferber's childhood.
From Kalamazoo, they returned  to Chicago for a year, and then
moved to [[Ottumwa, Iowa]], where they resided from 1890 to 1897 (ages 5 to 12 for Ferber). 

In Ottumwa, Ferber and her family faced brutal [[anti-Semitism]], including adult males verbally abusing, mocking and spitting on her on days when she brought lunch to her father, often mocking her in a [[Yiddish]] accent.{{sfn|Ferber|1939|p=41}}<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.nndb.com/people/391/000073172/|title=Edna Ferber|website=www.nndb.com|access-date=September 27, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Burstein |first=Janet |date=December 31, 1999 |title=Edna Ferber {{!}} Jewish Women's Archive |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ferber-edna |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120193521/https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ferber-edna |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |access-date=February 15, 2019 |website=jwa.org}}</ref> 
According to Ferber, her years in Ottumwa "must be held accountable for anything in me that is hostile toward the world".{{sfn|Ferber|1939|p=31}}
During this time, Ferber's father began to lose his eyesight, necessitating costly and ultimately unsuccessful treatments.{{sfn|Ferber|1939|p=51}} At the age of 12, Ferber and her family moved to [[Appleton, Wisconsin]], where she graduated from high school and later briefly attended [[Lawrence University]].