Kate Douglas Wiggin
Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856–1923) was an American educator, author, and composer who loved helping children. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 and, with her sister Nora, opened a teacher-training program in the 1880s. Together they helped establish more than 60 kindergartens in San Francisco and Oakland.
Wiggin wrote many children’s books, including the classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903). She also wrote The Story of Patsy (1883) and The Bird’s Christmas Carol (1887). In addition to stories, she and Nora published works on Friedrich Froebel’s ideas about kindergarten education.
Her life was closely tied to California and Maine. After her first husband, Samuel Bradley Wiggin, died in 1889, she moved to Maine. She later married George Christopher Riggs in 1895 and continued to write under the Wiggin name. Wiggin helped found the Salmon Falls Library in Hollis, Maine, in 1911 and started a Dorcas Society in 1897.
Wiggin was anti-suffrage and testified that women should be strong but “slightly in the background,” to be consulted and collaborate with men. She traveled to Europe several times and died of bronchial pneumonia in Harrow, England, in 1923. Her ashes were scattered in the Saco River in Maine.
She also wrote music for children, including Kindergarten Chimes (1885) and Nine Love Songs and a Carol (1896). After her death, her autobiography was published, and her sister shared memories of her life.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:42 (CET).