Mrs. John H. Kinzie

Born in Middletown, Connecticut, Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie was an American writer remembered on some book title pages as Mrs. John H. Kinzie. She spent much of her life in the Midwest and became closely associated with early Chicago and the frontier history of the Old Northwest.

Her best-known book, Wau-Bun; The Early Day in the Northwest, helped preserve stories of Native peoples, settlers, and everyday life in the region during the early nineteenth century. She also wrote for younger readers, including historical tales that drew on her interest in frontier life.

Today she is often valued not just as a storyteller, but as an early recorder of Chicago and Midwestern history. Her work blends memoir, local history, and narrative in a way that still gives readers a vivid sense of a fast-changing American frontier.