She was adopted by an aunt and uncle as a little girl, and raised in Rockford, Illinois with the surname Durno.

[5] She played in Los Angeles at the Biennial Festival of the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1915.

[6] She made some piano rolls of her performances of works by Liszt, Debussy, Grieg, and Chopin.

[7][8] "Among the younger pianists of the middle western states few more notable are to be found that Miss Jeannette Durno of Chicago," explained one publication in 1899.

[9][10] Among her students were Canadian pianists Evelyn Eby,[11] Neil Chotem, and Lyell Gustin.