A Princess of Mars - Softcover

Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois (he later lived for many years in the suburb of Oak Park), the fourth son of businessman and Civil War veteran Major George Tyler Burroughs (1833–1913) and his wife Mary Evaline (Zieger) Burroughs (1840–1920). His middle name is from his paternal grandmother, Mary Rice Burroughs (1802–c.1870). Burroughs was of almost entirely English ancestry, all of which had been in North America since the early colonial era. Through his grandmother Mary Rice, he was descended from Edmund Rice, one of the English Puritans who moved to Massachusetts in the early colonial period. He once remarked "I can trace my ancestry back to Deacon Edmund Rice." The Burroughs side of the family was also of English origins and also emigrated to Massachusetts at around the same time. Many of his ancestors fought in the American Revolution. He had other ancestors who settled in Virginia during the colonial period and he often stressed that side of the family, seeing it as more romantic and war-like.