Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1899. His father was a physician and the family had a love of the outdoors. His mother was well read and inclined toward the arts. The family were Congregationalists with strong Christian beliefs. Hemingway rejected these beliefs. He was married twice, first to Hadley and then to Pauline and Martha. He grew to hate his mother after his father's death. Hemingway reached his high point in the 1930s. Alcohol and depression led to a decline in his writing in the 1940s.