Anna Gardner (1816 - 1901)

Born 25 Jan 1816 in Nantucket, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Died 18 Feb 1901 at age 85 in Nantucket, Massachusetts

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Biography

Anna Gardner is Notable.

Anna Gardner, daughter of Oliver Cromwell Gardner and Hannah Macy, was born on Nantucket Island on January 25, 1816. Raised in an abolitionist Quaker household, she became actively involved in the anti-slavery movement at an early age. As a teenager, she subscribed to The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper, and at twenty-two, already a member of the Anti-Slavery Society, she became a teacher at the Nantucket African School. In 1840, one of her students was denied admission to the public high school. This led to her resignation and to her lifelong commitment to the desegregation of public education. In 1841, she helped organize Nantucket’s first anti-slavery convention; one of its speakers was Frederick Douglass, making his first abolitionist speech. After the Civil War, she became a teacher in freedmen's schools in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 1878, she returned to the north, where in Brooklyn, New York she was severely injured in a carriage accident. After a partial recovery requiring many weeks, she moved back to Nantucket, where she continued speaking and writing. In 1881, she published a volume of prose and verse entitled Harvest Gleanings.^[1] In addition to her anti-slavery work, Gardner was an advocate for women's rights and, later in life, was active in the Association for the Advancement of Women. She died February 18, 1901.

Sources

1. ↑ Gardner, Anna. Harvest Gleanings: In Prose and Verse. New York: Fowler & Wells, 1881.

• Barney Genealogical Record. Nantucket Historical Association. Person ID I25313.
• Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). Nantucket, Vol. 2, Births, p. 19.
• United States Census, 1860, Anna Gardner in entry for Edward Ray, Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
• United States Census, 1880, Anna Gardner, Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
• United States Census, 1900, Anna Gardner, Nantucket Town (south part), Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
• Finger, Jascin Leonardo. "Anna Gardner, 1816-1901, Teacher–Abolitionist–Women’s Rights Advocate–Author," at nha.org (accessed June 4, 2020).
• "History of Social Activism on Nantucket," posted at nha.org on May 21, 2018 by NHA Communications (accessed June 22, 2018).
• Wikipedia contributors, "Anna Gardner," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (accessed June 23, 2018).
• White, Barbara Ann. A Line in the Sand: The Battle to Integrate Nantucket Public Schools 1825–1847. New Bedford, Massachusetts: Spinner Publications, Inc., 2009. Pages 22-24.
• White, Barbara Ann. "North Carolina and Anna Gardner," at nha.org (accessed June 4, 2020).
• White, Barbara Ann. Disturber of Tradition: A Portrait of Anna Gardner. Nantucket, Mass.: Nantucket Historical Association, 2020.
• Obituary, The New York Times (New York, New York), Friday, February 22, 1901, page 7.
• Obituary, The Inquirer and Mirror (Nantucket, Massachusetts), Saturday, February 23, 1901, page 4.
• Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, Anna Gardner, 18 Feb 1901.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #112265086, citing Prospect Hill Cemetery, Nantucket, Nantucket County, Massachusetts, USA.
• Douglas-Lithgow, Robert Alexander, Nantucket, A History (G.P Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1914) Page 229-30.