On Sunday morning, October seventh, 1849, Reuben A. Riley and his wife, Elizabeth Marine Riley, rejoiced over the birth of their second son. They called him James Whitcomb. This was in a shady little street in the shady little town of Greenfield, which is in the county of Hancock and the state of Indiana. The young James found a brother and a sister waiting to greet him--John Andrew and Martha Celestia, and afterward came Elva May--Mrs. Henry Eitel-- Alexander Humbolt and Mary Elizabeth, who, of all, alone lives to see this collection of her brother’s poems.