Ted C. Hinckley was born in New York City in 1925 and received his public school education in Pasadena, CA. He fought with the United States Navy’s Torpedo Squadron 6 during World War II. Hinckley received his BA from Claremont McKenna College, graduating in its first four-year class in 1950. While there he married Scripps student Caryl Chesmore to whom he remained happily devoted for over fifty years. Hinckley later received a BS from Northwest Missouri State University and then an MA from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Hinckley was awarded a PhD in History from Indiana University in 1961.

Hinckley taught History at San Jose State University for thirty-one years. During and after his tenure at the university, Hinckley traveled the globe with teaching assignments in Europe, Latin America, Alaska, Micronesia, and as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Gadja Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. In the 1990s, Ted and Caryl happily retired to Lake Whatcom near Bellingham, WA, where Hinckley served as Professor Emeritus at Western Washington University. During his retirement, Hinckley spent many years as a shipboard history teacher with United States Navy's PACE program.

Among Hinckley's publications are diverse anthologies and three scholarly volumes on America's nineteenth century Alaskan frontier. He also wrote many scripts and screenplays, as well as a children’s book.