Financial Problems, Poverty, Bankruptcy
Kean, Edmund
Kean was the son of a poverty-stricken actress, Ann Carey, who more or less abandoned him on the streets, and (probably) an architect's clerk, Edmund Kean, who committed suicide when he was... [more]
Leonowens, Anna
Leonowens was born Anna Harriette Crawford in Wales. Her father was in the army and her parents went to India when she was six, leaving her in Britain with a relative who ran a girls' schoo... [more]
Lue Gim Gong
Lue was born into a wealthy farming family in Canton. An uncle who had already emigrated to the USA returned with stories of the great opportunities there, and at the age of 12 Lue prevaile... [more]
Manuera, Eruera Riini
Manuera's mother was a high-ranking aristocrat of the Ngati Awa, and his father was of lower rank, although still the son of a chief. Family elders therefore cursed the couple with childles... [more]
McAuley, Catherine
McAuley was born to a happy, devout, wealthy Catholic family but her father died when she was seven. Her mother moved the three children from their country mansion to Dublin and converted t... [more]
Perrott, Caroline
Perrott was a girl of eight when she was kidnapped by Maori near Leppertown in the Taranaki district of New Zealand in 1874, probably in retaliation when her father disturbed a sacred buria... [more]
Poe, Edgar Allan
Poe's actor parents died before he was three years old (his father had disappeared before he was born and his mother died in 1811) and he was fostered (never formally adopted) by a merchant... [more]
Rat-Children of Shah Daula
According to a centuries-old tradition, barren women who worship at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Daula, in Gujrat, Pakistan, will become fertile. But unless they donate their first-bor... [more]
Sherman, William Tecumseh
Sherman was born in Ohio. His father died when he was nine and his mother, unable to care for her eight children alone, sent his brother Thomas to be raised by an aunt and William to be fos... [more]
Spencer, Percy LaBaron
Spencer's father died when he was 18 months old and his mother left home, leaving him to be brought up by his uncle and aunt, a poor farming family in Maine. His uncle died when he was seve... [more]
