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"If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those who go under...? I only know that the survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about the people who had gumption and the people who didn't."

-Margaret Mitchell @ McMillan 1936

Here is a timeline of Margaret's life I created using various online sources with references to Gone With the Wind! I would like to thank those sources where I got this information!

Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was born on Tuesday, November 8, 1900, to Eugene Muse Mitchell and Maybelle Stephens Mitchell in the home of her maternal grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens.

"Their 1st daughter was born and they named Katie Scarlett O'Hara after Gerald's mother.."

Moves from childhood home in Jackson Hill in southeast Atlanta to a white-columned mansion at 1149 Peachtree Street. In order to play with her brother, Stephens, and the other boys in the neighborhood, Margaret quickly becomes a tomboy.

"Her (Scarlett's) preferred playmates were not the demure sisters...but the Negro children of the plantation and the boys of the neighborhood.. she could climb a tree.."

Falls in love and becomes engaged to Lt. Clifford Henry, a Harvard man in training at Camp Gordon in Atlanta. Margaret starts her first year at Smith College in the North in the fall of 1918.

"Mr. Lincoln's called volunteers to fight against us...Don't you men think of anything important...I'll cry into my pillow every night.."

While at Smith, she receives word that Clifford has died in the war. Soon after, her mother becomes ill with influenza, and Margaret rushes home to see her but does not make it in time.

"Within 2 weeks Scarlett became a wife, and within 2 months more, she became a widow...."

Margaret made her debut and causes a scandal with her "Apache Dance." She is refused admission into the Junior League because of the nature of the dance and because she chose to do charity work in the wards for the black and the poor at Grady Hospital.

She is surrounded by suitors, but Kinnard "Red" Upshaw and John Marsh remain the top competitors for her attention. Margaret marries Upshaw in September of that year and the couple moves in with Margaret's family. The two separate and eventually divorce after Margaret realizes he is abusive. Margaret lands a job as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal Magazine. She covered stories ranging from Rudolph Valentino and other hard news for the Atlanta Journal.

Scarlett O'Hara married for the 2nd time to Frank Kennedy. She owns her own lumber mill in Atlanta.

Margaret marries John Marsh on July 4 (she liked to tell her friends she was married on "Independence Day"). They host their wedding reception in apartment #1 on Crescent Avenue. A former newspaper reporter, John works as the editor of the Georgia Power Company magazine, eventually rising to vice president of advertising and marketing.

Margaret is forced to quit her job at the newspaper because of arthritis in her ankles and feet. She spends time at home in bed, reading voraciously. John, tired of lugging books home for Margaret to read, brings her a second-hand portable Remington typewriter with the words, "Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a great new career." John's thought was that because Margaret had read basically every book in the public library, she should write her own book. Margaret begins composing what her friends jokingly call, "the great American novel," writing about what she had learned from the many Civil War era stories her elders had told her as she was growing up.

The bulk of her work is completed. Only two people, John and her friend Lois Cole, who worked for McMillan Publishing Company, know the details of her writing.

Margaret and John move from the Crescent Avenue Apartments to the Russell Apartments at Peachtree and 17th streets.

Harold Latham of McMillan Publishing heads south in search of new writers. Lois Cole asks Margaret to show Latham around Atlanta. Margaret agrees to meet Latham but repeatedly refuses his requests to see her manuscript. She tells him to "take the damn thing" before she changes her mind. Latham is spellbound by the manuscript. After conferring with the head of the English Literature department at Columbia University, he buys it from Margaret.

The book is published on June 10 and by October has sold one million copies. The popularity of the book begins to change her life and she is besieged by letters and telephone calls from all over the world. The most popular question is "Does Scarlett get Rhett back?" Hollywood producer David O. Selznick buys the film rights to Margaret's manuscript for $50,000, top dollar at the time. Once again, she is besieged, this time by would-be actresses wanting a part in the film.

Atlanta rolls out the red carpet for Hollywood at the movie's premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre, located on Peachtree Street in the heart of Atlanta on December 15!

Margaret becomes a full-time volunteer and devotes most of her time, energy and wealth to many projects.

On August 11, while crossing Peachtree Street to go to a theater, Margaret is hit by an off-duty cab driver. Suffering from internal injuries, she dies several days later at Grady Hospital. Her memorial service is at Patterson's Funeral Home, and she is buried at Oakland Cemetery in the Mitchell family plot.

John Marsh (Margaret's husband) dies of a heart attack in his sleep. He is buried next to Margaret in Oakland Cemetery.

Awarded Shining Light Award by Atlanta Gas Light and WSB radio in recognition of her contributions to humanity. Margaret Mitchell House, birthplace of Gone With The Wind, is dedicated to the City of Atlanta in honor of the indomitable spirit of Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell.

Did you know?...... A TV Movie was made called "A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story" with Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed) portraying Margaret. It was entertaining and gave me more interest in this woman who I think was much of the inspiration for Scarlett O'Hara!