Ernest Miller Hemingway was born at eight o'clock in the morning in Oak Park, Illinois. Over the next sixty-two years of his life, he established a literary reputation unmatched in the 20th century. In doing so, he also created in himself a mythological hero who captivated not only serious literary critics but also the average man. He was a literary genius. Born in his family home, a house built by his widowed grandfather Ernest Hall, Hemingway was the second of six children of Dr. Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway; he had four sisters and one brother. He was named after his maternal grandfather Ernest Hall and his great-uncle Miller Hall. Oak Park was primarily an upper-middle-class Protestant suburb of Chicago that Hemingway would later call a town of "broad lawns and d 'narrow minds'. Just ten miles from the big city, Oak Park was actually much further away, philosophically. It was basically a conservative city that tried to insulate itself from the liberal mindset of Chicago. Hemingway was raised with conservative Midwestern values: strong religion, hard work, fitness, and self-determination; if one adhered to these parameters, he was taught that he would be assured of success in whatever field he chose. As a boy, his father taught him to hunt and fish along the shores and in the forests surrounding Lake Michigan. The Hemingways owned a summer home called Windemere on Walloon Lake in northern Michigan, and the family spent the summer months there trying to stay cool. Hemingway fished in the various streams that flowed into the lake or took the boat to fish there. He would also go squirrel hunting in the woods near the summer house, discovering early on the serenity that can be found when alone in the forest or wading in a stream. It was something he could always return to throughout his life, wherever he was. Nature would be the touchstone of Hemingway's life and work, and although he often found himself living in large cities like Chicago, Toronto and Paris early in his career, once he he was successful, he chose somewhat isolated places to live like Key West or San Francisco. from Paula, Cuba, or Ketchum, Idaho. All were good places for hunting and fishing. When he wasn't hunting or fishing, his mother taught him the intricacies of music..