Ernest Rutherford Groves (1877-1946) was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 1901 after graduation from high school, he entered Yale Divinity School and received a B. D. Two years later he earned a B. A. from Dartmouth College and was teaching sociology at the University of New Hampshire. After a brief stint teaching English at Dartmouth, in 1909 he returned to the University of New Hampshire and five years later he became dean of the Arts College. He was a pioneer among educators on sex, marriage and the family; Groves wrote several books on marriage and family life, including Parents and Children (1928), The American Family (1934), The Family and Its Social Functions (1940) and The American Woman (1944), and contributed articles to many scientific journals and magazines.