Jennie Ellis Keysor

Jennie Ellis Keysor was born in Austin, Minnesota. After graduating from high school in 1878, she became a teacher in a district school. Riding to and from school on horseback every day, she used the time to study English literature. She graduated from the Winona Normal School in 1879, and soon was put in charge of its preparatory department of USA history and civics. She completed a course given by Wellesley College in English literature and history, and was appointed head of the normal school's Department of English literature and rhetoric. After marrying William W. Keysor, an Omaha attorney and district judge, with whom she had two children, she quit her job. She became a writer for the The Popular Educator encyclopedia series of books, specializing in art history and biography, and a frequent contributor to periodicals.