Although born in Rock Island, Illinois, on December 6, 1884, Cornelia Lynde Meigs lived most of her life in Keokuk, Iowa. The daughter of an accomplished storyteller, Meigs inherited her father's aptitude for making history come alive. His tales of the Civil War, the War of 1812, and the Barbary pirates sparked Meigs's long-lasting interest in history. Many of her early works are about America's infancy: Master Simon's Garden, The Willow Whistle, Wind in the Chimney, and The Covered Bridge.

Meigs earned a bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1907 and later taught English at St. Katharine's boarding school in Davenport, Iowa. While at St. Katharine's she completed and published her first book, The Kingdom of the Winding Road, a collection of fantasy stories. After the death of her father, a government engineer, Meigs persuaded the administration of Bryn Mawr to allow her to teach a writing...