[1][2] Jennie Amelia Vennerström was born to impoverished immigrants from Sweden on August 31, 1869 outside of Albert Lea, Minnesota.

[4] Jennie became a voracious reader and with a series of part-time jobs and special tutoring she earned a bachelor's degree from Hamline University in 1895.

[8] The following year she studied with William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art, but was compelled to move in September 1903 to Tucson, Arizona to accommodate her husband's employment.

[9] In January 1910, she began advanced studies with Frank Brangwyn at the London School of Art and concluded with a grand tour of Europe and North Africa.

[11] In 1914 Jennie persuaded William Merritt Chase to teach his last summer class in Carmel and was elected to the Society of Monterey Artists.

[12] After a traumatic divorce from her husband in 1917 she traveled to New York City and joined the radical People's Art Guild.