"Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 - July 21, 1938) was an American writer and "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian, although he never wrote about the West afterwards. ... Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a well-known neighborhood in the northwestern part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of Wisters raised at the storied Belfield estate in Germantown." - from Wikipedia