Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin

Born Jennie Maria Drinkwater in Portland, Maine, in 1841, she wrote under the name Mrs. Nathaniel Conklin and became known while still young for her writing for children. She published fiction for girls and contributed to the religious press, building a steady reputation with readers in the late 1800s.

Her work reached beyond books. She is remembered as the founder of the Shut-in Society, an organization created to support people confined by sickness or disability, which reflects the same sympathy and moral seriousness that shaped much of her writing.

She married the Rev. Nathaniel Conklin in 1880 and died in New Vernon, New Jersey, in 1900. Today she is remembered both as a popular author of her era and as a woman who used her literary success in the service of others.