She was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the wife of military officer, explorer, and politician John C. Frémont.

Her writings, which helped sustain her family during times of financial hardship, primarily focused on memoirs of her experiences in the American West.

Her father, renowned as the "Great Expansionist," oversaw her early education and introduced her to the prominent politicians of the era, an uncommon practice for the time.

In 1840 at age 16, while studying and living at Georgetown Seminary, she met Lieutenant John C. Frémont who was in Washington preparing a report on explorations (with Joseph Nicollet as commander) he had made between the Missouri River and the northern frontier of the United States.

Probably through the influence of Col. Benton, Frémont then received an order from the War Department to make an examination of the Des Moines River on the western frontier.

[3] For a while after their marriage, Jessie and her husband lived on Army posts, until Frémont was assigned the task of exploring the West and scouting land for future U.S. territorial expansion.

He returned, however, days before the birth of their eldest child, Elizabeth Benton "Lily" Frémont, who was born November 15, 1842, in Washington D.C.

Adding human-interest touches to these printed reports, she wrote and edited best-selling stories of the adventures Frémont had while exploring the West[1] with his scout, Kit Carson.

[4] Frémont garnered many Northern votes but ultimately lost the election to James Buchanan, though he did surpass the American Party candidate, Millard Fillmore.

She played an active role in the anti-Secession movement in California in 1861[5] and enlisted both Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King and writer Bret Harte to her crusade.

Undaunted by their financial situation, Jessie began writing books to help support the family, namely A Year of American Travel: Narrative of Personal Experience (1878), a story about her journey to California in 1849, and Souvenirs of My Time (1887).

In 1891, she moved into a home at the corner of 28th and Hoover Streets in Los Angeles that was presented to her by a committee of ladies of the city as a token of their great regard.

[7][8] She remained in good health until about two and a half years before her death when an accident made her an invalid, but she was able to use a wheelchair and enjoy the outdoors.

In 1960, actress Lorna Thayer was cast as Jessie Frémont in the episode, "The Gentle Sword" of the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days.