Dictionary.net

An American storywriter; born (Smith) in Philadelphia, Sept. 28, 1857. Her youth was spent in Hollis, Me., and she attended Abbott Academy in Andover, Mass. She went to California in 1876, where she studied the kindergarten system in Los Angeles; later, she taught a year in Santa Barbara College; then went to San Francisco, where she organized the first free kindergarten in the West. In 1880 she organized the California Kindergarten Training School, with her sister Nora A. Smith, and Mrs. S. B. Cooper. In 1880 she married S. B. Wiggin, a lawyer, and they moved to New York, where Mr. Wiggin died in 1889. In 1895 Mrs. Wiggin married Geo. C. Riggs. She has written many stories and books on and for the kindergarten among them being "The Story of Patsy", "The Birds' Christmas Carol", "Polly Oliver's Problem", "The Story Hour", and "Kindergarten Principles and Practice"; "Finding a Home".