The family emigrated to the United States when Jordan was 3, settling in New York City, with her father taking a position as a professor.

Jordan was educated at private schools and by tutors at home, beginning to write at a young age.

She built up a large readership, with one of her most popular pieces, The Kiss of Gold appearing in October 1892 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.

[3][4] Her 1905 novel, Time, the Comedian, was adapted as a silent film by Fanny and Frederick Hatton which starred Mae Busch.

Jordan left her residence at the Hotel Touraine in April 1926 to live with her niece, Mrs George A. Reeder, in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.

Her death was ruled a suicide, and her ashes were interred in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Tarrytown, New York.