Otto Emil Plath (1885-1940) was a German instructor and biology professor at Boston University, 1922-1940. Born in Grabow, Germany, on April 13, 1885, to Theodore and Ernestine Kottke Platt, he was the eldest of six children. Otto Plath was educated at Northwestern College, Wisconsin (A.B., 1910), University of Washington (M.A., 1912), Harvard University (M.S., 1925; Sc.D., 1928). In 1932 he married Aurelia Frances Schober (1906-1994) who later became an associate professor in the College of Practical Arts and Letters at Boston University, 1942-1971.

They lived at 24 Prince Street, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, until 1936 when the family moved to 92 Johnson Avenue, Winthrop, Massachusetts, to be near Aurelia's parents-Frank Schober (1880-1965) and Aurelia Greenwood Schober (1887-1956)-and Aurelia's siblings Dorothy Schober Benotti (1911-1981) and Frank Richard Schober (1919- ). Otto Plath died on November 5, 1940 from complications of diabetes.

Otto and Aurelia Schober Plath had two children: Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and Warren Joseph Plath (1935- ). In 1942, Aurelia Plath moved to 26 Elmwood Road, Wellesley, Massachusetts, with her daughter, son, and her parents.

Sylvia Plath graduated from Smith College (B.A., 1955) and Newnham College, Cambridge (M.A., 1957). Warren Plath graduated from Harvard College (A.B. 1957) and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1964). He was a Fulbright student at the University of Bonn, 1957-1958.

On June 16, 1956, 1956, Sylvia Plath married English poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998). Plath and Hughes honeymooned in Benidorm, Spain, visiting Paris en route where they met Warren Plath. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes had two children: Frieda Rebecca Hughes (1960- ) and Nicholas Farrar Hughes (1962- ). Frieda Hughes was born on April 1, 1960 at home at 3 Chalcot Square in London near Primrose Hill. Nicholas Hughes was born on January 17, 1962 at home at Court Green in North Tawton, Devonshire, England. Before her death on February 11, 1963, Plath published The Colossus & Other Poems and her novel The Bell Jar. Her Collected Poems, published posthumously in 1981, won the Pulitzer Prize.