Jennifer Smallwood
Jennifer heralds from an English family, whose wealth was accumulated during the early 19th century though shipping ventures. Her parents were lost at sea in 1888 while on board the SS Vaitarna on route to Bombay, leaving Jennifer and her older sister Valerie the heirs to the Smallwood fortune.While Valerie preferred to remain at the familys home in Hampshire, Jennifer packed her bags and elected to travel to the New World. The decision strained her relationship with her sister, who considered a ladys job was to find a suitable husband and not go gallivanting to foreign climes.
After partying in New York and then California, Jennifer grew weary of the endless dances and the endless queue of men bidding for her interest. She resolved that there was much more to see and experience and set about looking for (as she put it) something different. Seeing an article about an expedition being mounted in Peru seeking people with a yearning for adventure, Jennifer
contacted the man in charge, one Augustus Larkin, who told her of his quest to find a lost pyramid.
Her offer to donate $1,000 towards the expedition was gladly accepted by Larkin. With her travel arrangements in place, Jennifer set off for Lima and her destiny.