Maud Hart Lovelace was an American writer best known for the Betsy-Tacy series. She was born on April 25, 1892, in Mankato, Minnesota. Maud was the middle of three children born to Thomas and Stella Palmer Hart. Her sister, Kathleen, was three years older, and her other sister, Helen, was six years younger. This "dear family" served as the model for the fictional Ray family in her beloved series.

Maud's birthplace was a small house on a hilly residential street several blocks above Mankato’s center business district. The street, Center Street, was where her childhood memories unfolded, which she later encapsulated in her stories. Shortly before Maud’s fifth birthday, a "large merry Irish family" moved into the house directly across the street. This family, with its many children, became part of the cherished memories that inspired her writing.