Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were family friends. Alcott wrote under various pseudonyms and only started using her own name when she was ready to commit to writing. Her novel "Little Women" gave Louisa May Alcott financial independence and a lifetime writing career. She died in 1888.
(http://www.biography.com/people/louisa-may-alcott-9179520#awesm=~oEmcWge0YB86iP)