Earhart's commitment to flying required her to accept the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. The school’s president at the time, Edward C. Elliott, “believed strongly in education for women as one way out of the Depression, and that educated women could add a great deal to our economy,” says Susan Butler, author of East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. Earhart was the daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867–1930) and Amelia "Amy" (née Otis; 1869–1962). But even before the message reached Washington, Secretary of the Navy Swanson had ordered the Navy to start hunting. It then sank, leaving no sign of their whereabouts. Edwin Stanton Earhart is in the 2nd generation of the family tree for ... Edwin Earhart appears to be listed as Samuel E. Earhart in the 1870 census. All Rights Reserved. Her earthbound opportunities were expanding too. But on July 2, 1937, before she reached her destination, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan are thought to have disappeared in the central Pacific Ocean on their way to Howland Island after taking off from the city of Lae in Papua New Guinea. The Marshall Islands/Saipan theory of Earhart’s fate isn’t a new one; it first surfaced back in the 1960s, and relies on accounts of Marshall Islanders who supposedly saw the Electra aircraft land and witnessed Earhart and Noonan in Japanese custody. The sailor alerted naval intelligence officers, who allegedly took the photo from the hut against the owner’s wishes. (The duration of the first flight — 20 Hours, 40 Min — would become the title of her book on the subject.) In fact only seven position reports are known to have been radioed by the flyers during their entire trip. The photo showed Earhart standing with a Japanese military officer, a missionary and a young boy. For estimating wind drift over the sea, he obtained two dozen aluminum powder bombs. Search Historical Records. Many believe that her flight crashed in the second around-the-world tour on July 2, 1937, while there have been other suggestions that her plane disappeared. Butler says the answer may not be so complicated in the end. She was also famous from other names as Millie, Meeley. Theory #3: Earhart’s flight was an elaborate scheme to spy on the Japanese, who captured her after she crashed. Her career took off. The two would end up marrying in February of 1931, and he became her publicist and the backer of her historic May 21, 1932, flight — the trip that, for the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh’s historic Paris journey, made her the first woman to pilot solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. The news only earned one brief line in the pages of TIME. When word that the Earhart plane was lost reached the U.S., Husband Putnam wired an appeal for a Navy search to President Roosevelt. Theory #5: Earhart survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash, was secretly repatriated to New Jersey and lived out her life under an assumed name. Theory #6: Earhart survived and somehow made her way to Guadalcanal. In June 1928, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic and then to fly back. The rumor of her “true” identity may have been triggered by the hallucinations of soldiers suffering from malaria and other diseases. Theory #7: Earhart crashed on New Britain Island. Amelia Mary Earhart(/ˈɛərhɑrt/; July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an Americanaviationpioneer and author. The minesweeper Swan put ashore a searching party at Canton Island, where last month a party of scientists viewed the solar eclipse… Meanwhile the aircraft carrier Lexington, with 62 planes aboard (instead of 72 as first announced) and an escort of four destroyers, sped out of San Diego at forced draft, stopped in Hawaii to refuel, arrived in the search area early this week. The publicity got the attention of George Palmer Putnam, publisher of Charles Lindbergh’s book We, who had been looking for a “Lady Lindbergh” to replicate the success of the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, TIME reported in 1928. Earhart’s east-to-west route took her from California to South America, across Africa to India and across the northern tip of Australia en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Edwin Earhart died on September 23, 1930. He married Amelia Jane Otis on 16 October 1895, in Atchison, Atchison, Kansas, United States. She was Aviators (American Aviator) by profession. Here's What to Know About What Actually Happened to Her. She was the daughter of Samuel Stanton Earhart (father) and Amelia Otis Earhart (mother). But not one position report was received after the plane left New Guinea. In 1895, after several years of courtship, AO married Edwin Stanton Earhart (ESE), a poor, young lawyer who had yet to prove himself truly worthy to the Otises' satisfaction. Samuel Stanton "Edwin" Earhart was born March 26, 1867 in Atchison, Kansas, and he studied to... See full answer below. TIME detailed that effort when it was still ongoing, explaining some of the reasons why the circumstances led to a high level of mystery: Several facts made it clear that much more than simple bad luck was involved. Earhart “vanished into legend,” as TIME once put it — and no solid proof of her fate has yet been found. George Palmer Putnam clung to his belief that his wife had come down not in the sea but on land, because the radio batteries, located under the ship’s wings, would have been put out of commission in the water. Since Emirau Island had been a haven for Europeans stranded after a shipwreck in 1940, it’s likely the photo contained a lookalike and not the real Amelia. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. But accounts about Earhart varied wildly -- she was executed immediately, she died of illness, she was liberated from a prison camp, she was secretly repatriated to the United States, she was really Tokyo Rose, etc. Theory #1: Earhart ran out of fuel, crashed and perished in the Pacific Ocean. But a Japanese blogger went to the country’s national library and discovered that that photo had been published in 1935 Japanese travelogue about islands in the South Pacific nearly two years before Earhart’s last flight began. Subscribe for just 99¢. When that happens, Butler says, “I’m quite sure the remains of the plane will be found.”. “She wasn’t planning on doing any more record-setting.”. She was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), who was a former federal judge, the president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in the town. Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939. [N 3] As a child, Earhart spent long hours playing with Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle and "belly-slamming" her sled downhill. She was born on July 24, 1897 at Atchison, Kansas, United States.. She was American by natinoanliy. Edwin Stanton EARHART was born on 28 Mar 1872 in Atchison, Atchison County, KS. Just last year, a 12th expedition focused on Nikumaroro kicked off, backed in part by National Geographic; a forensic anthropologist believes bones found there could belong to Earhart. When the real Bolam got wind of the book’s claims, she vigorously denied being Earhart and sued the author and publisher for $1.5 million. She took off on June 1, 1937, and throughout her journey, reported back to the U.S. media about what she saw along the way. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Now there are many conspiracies attempting to solve the death or possible survival of Amelia Earhart. According to the team, led by former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI Shawn Henry, Earhart crash-landed in the Marshall Islands, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan. According to the official account, at least, Earhart never got anywhere close to Japan. Samuel Edwin Stanton Earhart was born on March 28 1871, in , Atchison, Atchison County, Kansas, USA, to Rev. She took flying lessons in California and set a women’s altitude record of 14,000 feet in 1922, but wasn’t yet committed to a career as an “aviatrix.” Classes on health and medicine at Columbia University were followed by a period as a social worker in Boston. Miss Earhart considered all this too much bother, no trailing antenna was taken along. Still, a U.S. Navy crew member in World War II told of being sent to the island and spotting a photo of Earhart tacked up in the hut of a local man. By week’s end the Colorado‘s planes had scanned more than 100,000 square miles. Her publicity stunts were lucrative too; in 1935, she got paid $10,000 (approximately $185,000 in today’s dollars) to become the first person to fly from Hawaii to the mainland U.S. That same year, TIME described her as “easily the world’s No. Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel “Edwin” Stanton Earhart (March 28, 1867) and Amelia “Amy” Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in Atchison. Saturday marks 80 years since a court order declared her legally dead on Jan. 5, 1939. Theory #2: Earhart landed safely on Gardner Island but died before she could be rescued. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. He remedied that by borrowing a modern bubble octant designed especially for airplane navigation. The flyers skimmed over Gardner and McKean Islands and Carondelet Reef, saw nothing but ruined guano works and the wreck of a tramp freighter. Rear Admiral Orin G. Murfin, coordinator of the search, planned to abandon it. A chaotic search-and-rescue mission began. Harriet Earhart was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1842. Earhart’s plane had a Pratt & Whitney engine, but so did many planes used in the area before and during World War II. Earhart radioed U.S. Coast Guard ships stationed in the area, reporting that neither she nor Noonan could spot the tiny island where they were supposed to land. Amelia Mary Earhart(/ˈɛərhɑrt/; July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an Americanaviationpioneer and author. For some reason these bombs were left behind in a storehouse. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) recently launched its seventh expedition to the island to search for more clues. The author claimed the famous pilot survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash and was taken prisoner by the Japanese. Some days equatorial squalls and vanishing visibility crippled the hunt, but on others the weather was perfect, visibility unlimited. David Earhart, II and Mary Wells Earhart. That tragic end was the result of a years-long path for Earhart, all part of a story that would lead to decades of speculation about what actually happened to her. Check out my latest presentation built on emaze.com, where anyone can create & share professional presentations, websites and photo albums in minutes. So, at 39, Earhart thought she had just one more ambitious flight in her before she was ready to spend the rest of her life on the ground. Amelia Mary Putnam (born Earhart) was born on month day 1897, at birth place, Kansas, to Edwin Stanton Earhart and Amelia Earhart (born Otis). Besides, her flight was hardly a secret mission: Newspapers around the world tracked her progress on their front pages. Before the hop-off, when capable Navigator Noonan inspected what he supposed was an ultra-modern “flying laboratory,” he was dismayed to discover that there was nothing with which to take celestial bearings except an ordinary ship sextant. Theory #9: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and traveled to Emirau Island. Numerous experts who investigated Bolam’s life and compared her photos to Earhart’s agree that Bolam, who died in 1982, was not the missing aviator. After all, by that point she had been missing for 18 months, having disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. This is your last free article. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Samuel Earhart (1798 - 1846) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. She was of part Germandescent. Earhart vanished during a 1937 flight over the Pacific - and her disappearance has been a breeding ground for speculation ever since. She was buried at burial place, California. It’s unlikely that Earhart, who maintained in radio transmissions that she was running out of gas near Howland Island, would have had enough fuel left to fly to New Britain, some 2,000 miles away. Please attempt to sign up again. The Earharts moved to Kansas City, where they lived for the next ten years, during which they had two daughters: Amelia Mary (1897) and Grace Muriel (1899). Earhart made more than 100 radio transmission calls (from the aircraft) for help from July 2 to July 6, which proves that a crash could not have been her cause of death. When Samuel Edwin Stanton Earhart was born on 28 March 1867, in Atchison, Kansas, United States, his father, David Earhart, was 49 and his mother, Mary Wells Patton, was 45. Samuel Stanton Earhart was born on 28 Mar 1867, in Atchison, Kansas. In 2015, Kinney and another amateur Earhart sleuth, Dick Spink, found two metal fragments on Mili atoll in the Marshalls, which they believed came from Earhart’s plane. In her 1932 memoir The Fun of It, Amelia Earhart made a declaration that would come to seem, in hindsight, somewhat dubious: “Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.”. The person they saw probably was Merle Farland, a nurse from New Zealand, who was said to resemble the lost pilot. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. All Rights Reserved. And recently, a photograph found in the National Archives was the subject of a History Channel documentary that put forward the theory that it showed Earhart and Noonan on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Intrigued by Earhart — and her physical resemblance to Lindbergh — he invited her to be a passenger on a transatlantic flight. He died on 23 Sep 1930 in Los Angeles, CA. Theory #8: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and became “Tokyo Rose.” Emirau Island, off Papua New Guinea, seems an unlikely place to find Earhart because it’s far from the spot where her last radio transmissions occurred. A 1970 book put forth a creative solution to the Earhart mystery. The battleship Colorado hove to off the Phoenix Islands, catapulted three planes from its deck. Subscribe for just 99¢. In 2017, investigators announced the discovery of a photo, buried in the National Archives for nearly 80 years, that may depict Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan days after their disappearance. According to the so-called “crash-and-sink” theory, the plane eventually ran out of gas and plunged into the ocean, killing both Earhart and Noonan. By last week the search was costing $250,000 a day. [1][N 1]Earhart was the first femaleaviatorto fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. You can unsubscribe at any time. In 1991, TIME reported that the FBI confirmed that a clue to her last landing site could be an aluminum map case that was recovered by aircraft archaeologists on Nikumaroro, an atoll 420 miles southeast of Howland Island. But other experts on Earhart, including Butler, believe that if she ended up there, plane parts would have been discovered by the three planes that flew over Nikumaroro and nearby islands five days after Earhart went down. For her last hurrah, she began by flying from Oakland, Calif., to Miami, where she announced that for her last flight, she would fly around the world. She funded her flying as a writer and lecturer, and even designed her own woman’s clothing line. Amelia Earhart (1897-1939) vanished into thin air sometime in 1939, spawning a number of theories about how and where the famed aviator died. A spirit of adventure seemed to abide in the Earhart children with the pair setting off daily to explore their neighborhood. Purdue University recruited her to run a career center of sorts for women, and she inspired many to switch from home economics to engineering and other jobs in the aviation industry. Kinney believes the plane on the barge is the Electra, and that two of the people on the dock are Earhart and Noonan. In 1943, during World War II, several Allied airmen reported seeing Earhart working as a nurse on Guadalcanal. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel Enter your email Address For the first female aviator to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, the price was her life. On July 24, 1897, Amelia was the second child from Samuel ‘Edwin’ Stanton Earhart and Amelia ‘Amy’ Otis Earhart (TheFamousPeople, Editors). 1 airwoman.”. And in 1970, TIME reported on the book Amelia Earhart Lives, by former Air Force major Joseph Gervais, who used “a slithering foundation of fanciful codes, anagrams, leading but unanswered questions, and hints” to argue that Earhart was on “a spy mission for President Roosevelt, interned in Japan during the war and traded back to the U.S. in 1945, where she has lived under an alias ever since.” The New Jersey widow whom Gervais pinpointed as the real Earhart denounced the theory as a “poorly documented hoax.” And those who have looked for more concrete proof of Japanese involvement have come up short; for example, in the early ’80s, Japanese journalist Fukiko Aoki found no mentions of Earhart in the logs of ships that were in the area where Earhart probably crash-landed. Although this love of the outdoors and "rough-and-tu… Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2021 TIME USA, LLC. [3][N 2]She received the U.S.Distinguished Flying Crossfor this record. In 1943 an Australian army corporal on patrol in the island’s jungle claimed to have found an aircraft engine bearing a Pratt & Whitney serial number. Theory #4: Earhart crash-landed, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan. “My feeling is that the plane simply ran out of gas,” she says. David Earhart and Mary W. (Patton) Earhart, of Atchison, Kansas. But while the formal search-and-rescue mission may have ended, the citizen search was just beginning. 1; He was usually called Edwin. Wisconsin obituaries and death notices, 1989 to 2021. Items include an empty jar of the freckle cream she preferred and a piece of Plexiglas similar to that used in the Lockheed Electra airplane she flew. Either way, there have been no records of Earhart or her flight. [1][N 1]Earhart was the first femaleaviatorto fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart’s death has given birth to many conspiracy theories about her disappearance that continue to capture the public imagination to this day. This is one of the most generally accepted versions of the famous aviator’s disappearance. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. Her goals were “to establish the feasibility of circling the globe by commercial air travel” and “to determine just how human beings react under strain and fatigue,” TIME reported. The Coast Guard cutter Itasca, which had been dispatched from San Diego to Howland Island solely as a help to the flyers, would have been able to take directional bearings on the Earhart plane if the latter could have tuned its signals to a 500-kilacycle frequency. Finally, the Itasca‘s commander would have had a better idea where to look if the plane had radioed its position at regular intervals. There, Earhart took the name Irene Bolam and became a banker. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. There has been immense debate about the death of Amelia Earhart. She was the daughter of Rev. As for why Earhart was declared legally dead 18 months later, Butler has one theory: So her husband could marry his third wife and “get on with his life.”. Earhart researchers favoring the Japanese interception theory later leaped on these accounts as well of those of South Pacific natives who claimed to have seen Earhart in custody. A rumor circulated that Earhart had spread Japanese propaganda over the radio as one of many women collectively referred to as “Tokyo Rose.” Her husband, George Putnam, actively investigated this lead at the time, listening to hours of recorded broadcasts, but he did not recognize his wife’s voice. The Earhart-as-spy theory emerged from a 1943 film about Earhart called “Flight for Freedom” and starring Rosalind Russell, but no evidence supports its veracity. Theory #1: Earhart ran out of fuel, crashed and perished in the Pacific Ocean. Discover your family history in millions of family trees and more than a billion birth, marriage, death, census, and military records. Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War.Stanton's management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory. In the 1960s, one theory that became popular was put forth by journalist who believed that the Japanese captured Earhart and Noonan and took them to Saipan. Watch Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence now. Thousands of startled seabirds fluttered up, menacing the propellers and forcing the flyers to climb. She flew on her days off, becoming the only female member of a local pilots association and making headlines for doing a flying stunt to raise money for the settlement house where she worked. According to the 1977 book “Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomon Islands,” Farland caused a “something of a stir” on Guadalcanal, where she was the only woman among legions of troops awaiting transport. Community Memorial Funeral Home 1443 North 2nd Street, Abilene (325) 677-5246 ; Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home 542 Hickory Street, Abilene (325) 677-4355 ; Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home 5701 Highway 277 South, Abilene (325) 698-2200 ; Memorial Park Funeral Home & Cemetery 6969 East Interstate 40, Amarillo (806) 374-3709 ; Moore Bowen Road Funeral Home 4216 South Bowen Road, Arlington (817) 468-8111 Dozens of amateurs continued to report messages from the lost plane’s radio, but Navy and Coast Guard radio experts doubted that any of these were genuine. ... thus unleashing one of the wildest conspiracy theories surrounding Earhart's death upon the public to date. This is one of the most generally accepted versions of the famous aviator’s disappearance. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel “Edwin” Stanton Earhart (March 28, 1867) and Amelia “Amy” Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in Atchison. [3][N 2]She received the U.S.Distinguished Flying Crossfor this record. Earhart was the daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867–1930) and Amelia "Amy" (née Otis; 1869–1962). By signing up you are agreeing to our. Genealogy for Edwin Stanton Earhart (c.1872 - 1930) ... Death: September 23, 1930 (54-62) ... Samuel Edwin Stanton Earhart in WikiTree Edwin Stanton Earhart in FamilySearch Family Tree . Many experts believe Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan got slightly off course en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. The photo has never been found. Some have blamed Japan, America’s World War II enemy, even though Pearl Harbor didn’t happen for another four-and-a-half years. The plane’s transmitter would have been able to send such signals if it had had a trailing antenna. The Itasca, which inaugurated the search last fortnight, continued its futile patrol until fuel ran short. Additional marriages for Edwin Stanton ... U.S., Death Index, 1905-1939 , Death record for Edwin S. Earhart, Ancestry.com (Online Database). Her father, a Lutheran minister, went to Kansas as a missionary in 1860. Earhart was the daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867–1930) and Amelia "Amy" (nee Otis; 1869–1962). Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt enlist Earhart to spy on Japan? They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. 1; Samuel Stanton Earhart died on … Related to other World War II-era myths that place Earhart in various Pacific Theater locales, including Saipan and Guadalcanal, this story originated immediately after the end of the war. Queer Nigerians Find Both Community and Bigotry on Clubhouse, East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Amelia Earhart Was Declared Dead 80 Years Ago. Retired federal agent Les Kinney scoured the archives for records related to the Earhart case, uncovering a photo from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that shows a ship towing a barge with an airplane on the back; on a nearby dock are several people. The native of landlocked Kansas had gotten hooked on flying while attending an airshow in the Toronto area, where she had moved to work as a nurse’s aide during World War I. Amelia Earhart real name was Amelia Mary Earhart. New Britain Island rests at the eastern edge of Papua New Guinea, roughly along the flight path Earhart took on the final few legs of her round-the-world flight. Might she have crashed there? You have reached your limit of 4 free articles. FAA Grounds Boeing 777s After Engine Explosion, How Black Filmmakers Are Reclaiming Their History Onscreen. 1; He married Amelia Otis, daughter of Alfred Gideon Otis and Amelia Josephine Harres, on Wednesday, 16 Oct 1895 in Fifth Utah, Kansas. (She also volunteered there during the 1918 flu pandemic.) (Jerrie Mock would achieve Earhart’s goal of becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the globe as a solo pilot in 1964.). People Projects Discussions Surnames Alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and wa… Meanwhile the chance of finding the flyers alive, according to the consensus of searchers, was already down to one in a million. If the Lexington’s great fleet of planes could not find the lost flyers. Earhart’s death has given birth to many conspiracy theories about her disappearance that continue to capture the public imagination to this day. Her siblings were Della E. Earhart Mayers (1857–1908) and Samuel Stanton Earhart (1867–1930). This theory has gained ground in recent years due to the discovery on Nikumaroro of artifacts that could be related to Earhart. Find your ancestry info and recent death notices for relatives and friends. Edwin was born on March 28 1867, in Atchison, Atchison County, ... Amelia passed away of cause of death on month day 1937, at age 39 at death place. Genealogy for David Earhart, Jr. (1818 - 1903) family tree on Geni, with over 200 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Amelia was the second child of the marriage after an infant was stillborn in August 1896. In this scenario, Earhart missed her intended Pacific Ocean refueling site, Howland Island, but spotted Gardner Island (now called Nikumaroro), an uninhabited coral atoll nearby. Explore theories about Amelia Earhart’s final days—some more plausible than others. Please try again later. She landed safely but died before she could be rescued. If so, the aviator did it in a very roundabout fashion. In fact, rescue planes that flew over the islands where the signals were coming from no plane was seen. You have 1 free article left. Samuel had 10 siblings: Isabella Della Earhart , Martin L Earhart , Catherine Earhart , Albert M Earhart , Harriet Augusta Monroe , Franklin P Earhart , Mary L Earhart , Milton Earhart , Phillip M Earhart and Sarah K Earhart . She was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), who was a former federal judge, the president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in the town. Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867-1930) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in the town. While billionaire philanthropist Ted Waitt (co-producer of the biopic Amelia) financed a 2009 a robotic search of the ocean floor west of Howland Island, the ocean floor on the east side of the island has yet to be explored. At the end of World War II, U.S. forces purportedly found her in Japan and secretly repatriated her to New Jersey. Experts at the time surmised that she may have landed on a reef, where “With temperatures up to 120ºF and no fresh water available, survival was virtually impossible,” TIME reported. “She was planning on hanging up her spurs,” says Butler. (The lawsuit was later withdrawn, though Bolam may have settled out of court.)