Jack London

Personal background

Jack London's biological father is believed by Clarice Stasz and other biographers to have been the astrologer William Chaney. Chaney was in fact a distinguished and respectable figure; according to Stasz, "From the viewpoint of serious astrologers today, Chaney is a major figure who shifted the practice from quackery to a more rigorous method."

Related Topics:
Clarice Stasz - Astrologer - William Chaney

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Jack London did not learn of Chaney's putative paternity until adulthood. In 1897 he wrote to Chaney and received a letter in which Chaney stated flatly "I was never married to Flora Wellman," and that he was "impotent" during the period in which they lived together and "cannot be your father."

Related Topics:
1897 - Flora Wellman

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Whether the marriage was, in fact, legalized is unknown. Most San Francisco civil records were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. (For the same reason, it is not known with certainty what name appeared on his birth certificate). Stasz notes that in his memoirs Chaney refers to Jack London's mother Flora Wellman, as having been his "wife." Stasz also notes an advertisement in which Flora calls herself "Florence Wellman Chaney."

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