person was Millie Benson.
NANCY Drew stories always ended a chapter with a “holding point.” This is something that made you wonder and want to keep turning the pages, even though Mom had told you several times over it was past your bedtime.14
So here you go . . .
Where did this mysterious writer come from? Where had she been all these years? And why is it that, even after the trial confirmed her identity as the original writer of the Nancy Drew series, she was not publicly recognized until 1993?
Get your flashlights out. Let’s get on to solving the many mysteries of Millie.
DID YOU KNOW?
Pseudonyms: Did you know that several famous female writers wrote under male pseudonyms? Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the name Currer Bell and her sister Emily published Wuthering Heights under the name Ellis Bell. Millie wrote as both Don Palmer and Frank Bell.
THE SECOND CLUE
LITTLE LADORA GIRL WITH BIG DREAMS
The Case of the Wandering Feet
NANCY DREW and Penny Parker were two of the many characters Millie shared with the world. They were known to be quick on their feet. So was Millie.
Let’s start with her baby shoes. They say a lot about her. Silky white with blue ribbons for her tiny feet. Blue was the color for little girls up until the 1940s.1 The soles, the bottom of the shoes, were all marred and scuffed. They reflect her busy personality, even at this early age. This little girl was destined to go places.
Born on July 10, 1905, at a healthy nine pounds, Millie Augustine soon toddled around her family home in Ladora, Iowa. Ladora is about eighty miles from the capital of Des Moines. Beautiful rolling fields planted with corn, beans, and oats surrounded the town. Cattle on neighboring farms grazed in the fields and horses galloped in their pastures at the sight of the occasional visitor. The Rock Island Railroad line was built in the late 1860s and ran alongside the town. The railroad encouraged the growth of Ladora, as it allowed for the shipment of cattle and grain raised in the area.
LADORA, IOWA, SEPTEMBER 1912
Pioneer Heritage Resource Library, Marengo, Iowa
Millie couldn’t wait to start school. Beginning at the age of five, Millie skipped off to school. Her older brother, Mel, was always with her on the five-block journey.
As she grew older, in the warm summer months, Millie would saunter out to the front porch where she could watch her world go by. It was from here that Millie would see her father and mother drive off in his horse-drawn wagon. They were headed to his medical practice on the second floor of the Pike General Store just up the street. Ladora’s five hundred residents counted on her father to take care of them, from birthing babies to performing surgeries.
Just up the way she could see the Ladora Savings Bank being built. The building, with its many tall windows and majestic columns, rose to greet future customers. Over a thousand people from the area attended the dedication ceremony on July 26, 1920. Millie’s family was likely there, as her father served on the bank’s board. The townspeople marveled at the marble counters, the wooden floors, and the huge vault. The indoor restrooms attracted quite a bit of attention too!
In the winter Millie likely would sit in the front parlor room at home, her feet in stockings and laced boots. Perhaps she was listening to her father talk about his support of Republican President William Howard Taft. Her mother might have been playing the piano in the background. Both her father’s interest in politics and her mother’s musical talents influenced her as she grew up.
Her father, Jasper L. “J. L.” Augustine, was born in 1868, the son of a “forty-niner,” one who traveled to California in 1849 after the discovery of gold. J. L.’s father, Peter Augustine, had traveled three times from Iowa to California in search of his fortune. His mother, Jennie, had always waited for Peter to return to their homestead in Agency City, Iowa. J. L. attended public schools in his hometown, and proved to be an excellent student. After high school J. L. attended the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), graduating with a medical degree in 1893.2
Millie’s father moved to Ladora after graduation, where he set up his medical practice and became quite involved in the town. J. L.’s community service included his roles on the boards of the Ladora Savings Bank and the Millersburg Savings Bank. J. L. was also a member of the Ladora Improvement Company, which helped develop the growth of the town.3
A young woman whose family had purchased farmland adjacent to Ladora caught the new doctor’s eye. Her name was Lillian V. Matteson. Her parents, Elias and Emily, had migrated from Vermont to Iowa in 1882. Lillian’s father was a farmer who had operated a sawmill in Vermont before moving to Iowa. Once settled in Ladora, he established a successful farming operation. Elias was also conservative in his political views and community-minded. He likely was impressed with young J. L. Augustine when he came to call on his daughter, Lillian.
MILDRED “MILLIE” AUGUSTINE ON THE FRONT PORCH OF HER FAMILY HOME, 1915
Mildred Wirt Benson Papers, Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries. Copyright 2013 the University of Iowa. All rights reserved.
And so it was that young Dr. J. L. Augustine married Lillian V. Matteson in June 1897. Their first child, Melville “Mel,” was born in 1898, and Millie followed in 1905. As the children grew older, Lillian took on the role of her husband’s assistant in his medical office. She was known as “Grandma Doctor” within the family.4
Her parents were very busy with her father’s medical practice. As a result, Millie grew up with “a freedom that most children don’t have now.” Millie’s footwear at this stage included roller skates and comfortable shoes to play basketball in.5
MILLIE AND HER OLDER BROTHER, MEL
From the private collection of the Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson family
Lillian created a scrapbook for Millie during her childhood years. On one page, Lillian paid tribute to the many hours Millie played with paper dolls. She even drew a picture of Millie and her creations.
Years later Millie would write that the countless hours playing with the paper dolls and making up stories had a benefit. “It taught me the very beginning of story creation and actual writing.”6
A china doll and paper dolls were the only feminine toys she had, for her family recalls her as not being a “girly-girl.”
Millie played games with her brother, who tried to scare her by jumping out from a hedge of bushes on their property. Millie didn’t flinch. Nothing scared her.7 And she always felt that girls should be able to do the same things as boys.8
Millie loved to read, claiming that she “read every book in the town.”9 The nearest public library was in Marengo, seven miles away. It might as well have been a hundred. Due to a lack of transportation, she
