Biography: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Early life

Jacqueline Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, situated in the state of New York. Her father John Vernou Bouvier III (often known as Black Jack) , was a stockbroker serving on Wall Street. His ancestors had come from France in the early 1800s. Her mother Janet Norton Lee , had ancestors from Ireland and England. 

Janet Bouvier was a rider who had achieved many accomplishments in her equestrian career. So it was no surprise that Jackie was only a year old when her mother first put her on a horse. Jackie would famously grow to adore the sport and would spend her days at her horsefarm in Maryland, (that she owned later in her life) riding and letting the wind get in her hair. 

Not long after her 11th birthday, Jackie had already won several national championships. The New York Times wrote in 1940: 

"Jacqueline Bouvier, an eleven-year-old equestrienne from East Hampton, Long Island, scored a double victory in the horsemanship competition. Miss Bouvier achieved a rare distinction. The occasions are few when a young rider wins both contests in the same show."

Another pasttime Jackie enjoyed her whole life was reading. Before she started school, she had read all the books on her bookshelves. Her fictious heroes were Mowgli from The Jungle Book; famously written by Rudyard Kipling. Among her list of heroes and heroines were: Robin Hood, Little Lord Fauntleroy’s grandfather, Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind, and the poet Byron. Her mother wondered if Jackie might one day be a journalist or a writer. 

When Jackie was ten years old, her parents divorced. It was a difficult period of her life for her, especially because at the time few children, especially those she was raised with. had divorced parents. She also came from a Catholic family, and the Catholic Church disapproves of divorces. Jackie had always been a private person, describing herself as 'an iceberg', she became quieter, keeping her thoughts to herself. 

Despite these complicated and confusing times, Jackie had many advantages and opportunities in life. She took classical ballet lessons in the old Metropolitan Opera House on Broadway. This opera house isn't the one that stands today as the one Jackie danced in was torn down in 1967. Jackie also began taking lessons in French.

In 1942, a month before Jackie's 13th birthday, her mother married a businessman named Hugh Auchincloss. That wasn't the only sudden change in her life, Mr Auchincloss, had children from previous marriages. So apart from her younger sister Caroline (nicknamed Lee), Jackie now had two stepbrothers, Yusha and Tommy, and a stepsister, Nina.