Marion Eleanor Gridley was born in White Plains, New York, on 16 November 1906.
In 1940 she wrote Indians of Yesterday, following it with The Story of Pocahontas in 1948 and then Hiawatha in 1950.
She attended Northwestern University in 1954–1955, then started working in public relations while freelance writing.
For the Indian Nations Series published by Putnam, she produced volumes covering the Iroquois, Pontiac, Osceola, Navajo, Haida, Sioux and Seminole tribes between 1969 and 1973.
In 1972 Gridley wrote Contemporary American Indian Leaders and followed it with American Indian Women and a biography of Maria Tallchief in 1973.