Mabel and Arthur Tolkien were residents of Dloemfantein, South Africa. On January 3, 1892, Mabel and Arthur had a son. His name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. On February 17, 1894, Mabel had another boy, Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien. In April of 1895, Mabel Tolkien and her two boys took a ship to Birmingham, England to live with family and friends. They moved because the boys did not like the heat in South Africa. Several months later Mabel got a …showed first 75 words of 583 total…

…showed last 75 words of 583 total…but the publishers refused to print it because it was to long. It had over half a million words. Lord of the Rings had to be published as three separate volumes. In 1959 Ronald retired from Oxford University. He continued writing The Silmarillion. In 1971 Edith died. After Edith’s death Tolkien became slowly weaker. He died on a Sunday, September 2nd, 1973 at the age of 81. His book, The Simarillion, was finished in 1977 by his son Christopher.