Lyman Frank Baum was born on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York, and worked as an actor, newspaper man, and traveling salesman before settling with his family in Aberdeen in 1888. In October 1888, he opened a variety store called Baum's Bazaar, but it was undercapitalized from the start and failed in January 1890 as hard times brought on by drought worsened. He then leased a newspaper, the Dakota Pioneer, renamed it the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, and published his first issue on January 25, 1890. The Saturday Pioneer became best remembered for its humorous column, Our Landlady, which used the fictitious Aberdeen boarding house landlady Mrs. Sairy Ann Bilkins to cast a satirical eye on human nature and local life. As the drought deepened and subscriptions fell off, Baum gave up the Saturday Pioneer in April 1891 and moved his family to Chicago. His years in Aberdeen are believed to have inspired many of the characters and stories in the Oz books.