Theodora R. (Theodora Robinson) Jenness

Born Theodora Robinson in Greenwood, Maine, in 1847, she was educated in public schools and later graduated from high school in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1865. In 1872 she married George B. Jenness, and the couple had two daughters.

She built a varied career as a children's author and editor. Early in her writing life, she was associated with Our Young Folks, later held an editorial position at The Youth's Companion, and contributed stories and serials to magazines for young readers. Her known books include Two Young Homesteaders, Piokee and Her People, Above the Range, Big and Little Sisters, and The Miracle Man.

Jenness also spent many years in missionary work in South Dakota, including work with girls at St. John's Mission connected with the Cheyenne River Sioux community. That experience shaped some of her best-known fiction, giving it a strong sense of place and purpose. She died in Brooklyn, New York, on March 30, 1935.