Eugene Field Sr. was perhaps the best known American writer of children's poetry and a popular humorous essayist. He was born on 2nd September, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri. Subsequent to his mother’s death in 1856, Field was brought up in Amherst, Massachusetts by his cousin by the name Mary Field French.

Eugene Field studied from Williams College located at Williamstown in the American state of Massachusetts. However, he left the college after 8 months of his father Roswell Field’s death in 1969. Eugene then attended Knox College located at Galesburg, Illinois for one year. He later joined the University of Missouri and accompanied his brother who was already studying there. Eugene Field tried his hands on acting and also studied law, but with paltry results. Eugene’s next endeavor was to travel across Europe however the expedition lasted only for six months due to financial constrains. In 1875 Eugene Field took up the job of a journalist for Gazette in Missouri, however due to his dexterous writing skills Eugene was later promoted to the post of city editor.

In the same year of 1975, Eugene Field married Julia Comstock. They had 8 children over a period of time. Eugene Field has written his light, humorous articles in a gossipy style. Other newspapers reprinted some of these articles around the country. During this time Field published his popular poem Lovers Lane that describes about a St. Joseph’s street in Missouri.

Between 1876 and 1880 Eugene Field worked as an editorial writer at the Morning Journal followed by the Times-Journal in St. Louis. After serving a short tenure at the Kansas City Times as managing editor, he joined the Denver Tribune as editor for 2 years. In 1883, Eugene Field settled in Chicago where he got an assignment to write a humor filled column titled Sharps and Flats at the Chicago Daily News.

In 1879 Eugene Field published his first poem "Christmas Treasures" that came in “A Little Book of Western Verse”. After that Eugene Field produced a dozen volumes of light-hearted poetry for children, notably, “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.” Eugene Field also published numerous short stories too that included Daniel & the Devil and The Holy Cross. Many of his poems were commercially successful after being embellished with music compositions. Most of his works were also accompanied by Maxfield Parrish’s paintings.

On 4th November, 1895, Eugene Field died at the young age of 45 in Chicago. He is interred at the Holy Comforter Church of Kenilworth Illinois. What was Eugene Field’s house formerly in St. Louis is now a museum. In 1922, inspired by his poem “Rock-a-by-Lady”, a “Dream Lady” statue was erected at the Lincoln Park Zoo as his memorial. A park and field house near Chicago's Albany Park are also named in his honor.

Eugene Field’s name is represented by a star on the famous St. Louis Walk of Fame. Several elementary schools like Eugene Field Elementary School,St. Joseph, Missouri, Park Ridge, Illinois & Beaumont, Texas have been named in his honor.