Editing Robert E. Howard (section)

=== Early years ===
Howard was born January 22, 1906, in [[Peaster, Texas]], the only son of a traveling country physician, Dr. Isaac Mordecai Howard, and his wife, Hester Jane Ervin Howard.<ref name="Lord 1976 71">{{Harvtxt|Lord|1976|p=71}}</ref><ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|p=26}}</ref><ref group="nb">{{Harvtxt|Grin|2006|pp=13–18}}: Contains facsimile reproductions of Howard's birth certificate and death record.</ref><ref group="nb">{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|p=26}} notes that the birth record incorrectly shows Howard's birthdate as January 24, in addition to altering his mother's age.</ref><ref group="nb">[[#CITEREFBurke|Burke]] (3rd paragraph): notes that Howard celebrated his birthday on the 22nd rather than the 24th, as recorded in Parker County records.  His father also gave his birthday as January 22.</ref>  His early life was spent wandering through a variety of Texas cowtowns and boomtowns: Dark Valley (1906), [[Seminole, Texas|Seminole]] (1908), [[Bronte, Texas|Bronte]] (1909), [[Poteet, Texas|Poteet]] (1910), [[Oran, Texas|Oran]] (1912), [[Wichita Falls, Texas|Wichita Falls]] (1913), [[Bagwell, Texas|Bagwell]] (1913), [[Cross Cut, Texas|Cross Cut]] (1915), and [[Burkett, Texas|Burkett]] (1917).<ref name="Lord 1976 71" /><ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|pp=30–41}}</ref><ref name="Burke ¶ 5">[[#CITEREFBurke|Burke]] (¶ 5)</ref>

[[File:Robert E. Howard in 1911.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Robert E. Howard at five years old, dressed as a cowboy|Robert E. Howard at about five years old (circa 1911)]]

During Howard's youth his parents' relationship began to break down. The Howard family had problems with money, which might have been exacerbated by Isaac Howard investing in get-rich-quick schemes. Hester Howard, meanwhile, came to believe that she had married below herself.  Soon the pair were actively fighting. Hester did not want Isaac to have anything to do with their son.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|pp=39–40}}</ref> She had a particularly strong influence on her son's intellectual growth.<ref name="Finn 2006 42">{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|p=42}}</ref><ref name="Burke ¶ 7">[[#CITEREFBurke|Burke]] (¶ 7)</ref> She had spent her early years helping a variety of sick relatives, contracting [[tuberculosis]] in the process. She instilled in her son a deep love of poetry and literature, recited verse daily and supported him unceasingly in his efforts to write.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|p=34}}</ref>

Other experiences would later seep into his prose. Although he loved reading and learning, he found school to be confining and began to hate having anyone in authority over him.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|pp=41–42}}</ref><ref name="Burke ¶ 11">[[#CITEREFBurke|Burke]] (¶ 11)</ref> Experiences watching and confronting bullies revealed the omnipresence of evil and enemies in the world, and taught him the value of physical strength and violence.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|pp=12, 49–50}}</ref>  As the son of the local doctor, Howard had frequent exposure to the effects of injury and violence, due to accidents on farms and oil fields combined with the massive increase in crime that came with the [[Texas oil boom|oil boom]].<ref>{{Harvtxt|Finn|2006|p=35}}</ref> Firsthand tales of gunfights, [[lynching]]s, [[feud]]s, and [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] raids developed his distinctly Texan, [[hardboiled]] outlook on the world.<ref name="Burke ¶ 8">[[#CITEREFBurke|Burke]] (¶ 8)</ref>  Sports, especially [[boxing]], became a passionate preoccupation.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Lord|1976|pp=75–76}}</ref> At the time, boxing was the most popular sport in the country, with a cultural influence far in excess of what it is today. [[James J. Jeffries]], [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]], [[Bob Fitzsimmons]], and later [[Jack Dempsey]] were the names that inspired during those years, and he grew up a lover of all contests of violent, masculine struggle.