Ittie Kinney Reno
Ittie Kinney Reno (May 17, 1862 – June 5, 1941) was a Tennessee novelist and social leader.
She was born in Nashville, the daughter of Col. George S. Kinney. A bright and imaginative child, she was sent to a Kentucky convent to finish her education, graduating with first honors and delivering an original poem as her valedictory.
In Nashville she became a popular social figure. In 1889 she began writing a romance for fun and kept it secret until it was finished. Her parents urged publication, and her father sent the manuscript to Henry Watterson, who praised it as a genuine southern love story. With his help, her first novel, Miss Breckenridge, a Daughter of Dixie (Philadelphia, 1890), was published and quickly became popular, going through five editions in a few months. Her second book, An Exceptional Case (1891), also did well.
In 1903 she won second prize in a story contest run by American Home Magazine, earning a place on the magazine’s staff; her winning story was “Rattlesnake Jim.” In 1908 she won $500 in a Everybody’s Magazine contest, chosen from about 1,000 manuscripts.
On May 21, 1885, she married Robert Ross Réno of Harrisburg, Tennessee. He was the only child of M. A. Réno, a Major in the 7th Cavalry, famed for defending his men during a Sioux attack at Little Bighorn. Through his mother he was related to old Pennsylvania families, and he was an heir of Philippe Renault, who came to Tennessee with Lafayette and left a large estate valued at about $200 million in 1893. They lived in style on Capitol Hill for several years.
She died on June 5, 1941, and is buried at Cave Hill Cemetery, Nashville.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:53 (CET).