Martha Finley was a 19th century American author of children's stories. Her characters were good children rewarded for their high moral character. She wrote Elsie Dinsmore in 1867. Elsie was a virtuous Christian girl who resisted small temptations. This book was enormously popular. Finley wrote 27 books about Elsie taking her through her adult life and ending with her as a grandmother. This series was popular in the United States and in Britain selling over 25,000,000 books.