Jane Margaret North was my father's only sister. She was born in the late 19th century and spent most of her life in the little Ohio River towns in southern Indiana. Having no children of her own, she directed her affection to her nieces and nephews. Many were the interesting stories she told us about the wonderful steamboat era. Biography of Jane Margaret North. After her retirement as a librarian, she began to put her memories on paper. What an amazing legacy she left us of life during the 19th and early 20th centuries, written by someone who actually lived during that period in history.