[4] She identified as being "born to the Turtle clan of the Carolina Cherokee," as Gretchan Bataille and Laurie Lisa wrote in the Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary.
[5] She ran away from home as a teenager, and was a police reporter for the Detroit Free Press as a young woman.
[6] In the 1950s Jeanette married Rupert Costo (Cauhilla) with whom she co-founded the American Indian Historical Society (AIHS) in 1962.
[8] Its headquarters were named Chautauqua House and was located at 1451 Masonic Avenue in the Ashbury Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California.
[6] In 1988, the Costos, both Roman Catholic, were vocal in protesting the beatification of Christian missionary Junípero Serra.