Her father, Reverend Charles Livingston, was a Presbyterian pastor. Her mother, Marcia Macdonald Livingston, was supportive of her husband’s work and enjoyed being a mother. Marcia was also an excellent storyteller and with her sister, Isabella Macdonald Alden, wrote extensively. It was, in fact, her Aunt Belle who put Grace on the path to becoming an author. She gave Grace a bound copy of a story she had dictated to Aunt Belle, The Esselstynes, on her twelfth birthday.