Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876 originally named John Griffin Wellman. His mother was unmarried and had a very wealthy backround. Her name was Flora Wellman. Nobody ever knew for sure who his biological father was. Though, they think he might have been someone who was a journalist, a lawyer, or an astronomer. John's mother was very ill, so he was raised by an ex-slave, Virginia Prentiss. His mother, Flora, a man named John London. The new family moved to the Bay Area but then finally settled in Oakland. He started adapting to the name, Jack. He dropped out of school to help out the family by working at various hard labor jobs. Yet, at 19 years of age he started attending school again to finish up high school.