Anna Robeson Brown Burr (May 26, 1873 – September 10, 1941) was an American writer of novels, poetry, stories, essays, and biographies. Her ''The Autobiography: A Critical and Comparative Study'' (1909), was the first book on the subject.

Early life

Anna Robeson Brown was born in 1873, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the daughter of Henry Armitt Brown and Josephine Lea Baker Brown Leaming. Her father was a lawyer, writer, and orator, who died when Anna was a small child.

Charles Brockden Brown Charles Brockden Brown (January 17, 1771 – February 22, 1810) was an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period. He is generally regarded by scholars as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore ...

was her great-granduncle.

Career

Her novels include: ''Alain of Halfdene'' (1895); ''The Black Lamb'' (1896); ''A Cosmopolitan Comedy'' (1899); ''The House of Pan: A Romance'' (1899); ''The Immortal Garland'' (1900); ''The Millionaire's Son'' (1903); ''Truth and a Woman'' (1903); ''The Wine Press'' (1905); ''The Jessop Bequest'' (1907); ''The House on Charles Street'' (1921); ''The Wrong Move: A Romance'' (1923); ''The Great House in the Park'' (1924); ''Palludia'' (1928); ''Wind in the East'' (1933); and ''The Golden Quicksand: A Novel of Santa Fé'' (1936). She also wrote non-fiction books, among them, ''The Autobiography: A Critical and Comparative Study'' (1909), "the first book on the subject"; ''Religious Confessions and Confessants'' (1914); ''The Portrait of a Banker: James Stillman, 1850-1918'' (1927); and ''Weir Mitchell: His Life and Letters'' (1929). Brown also wrote for periodicals including ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'', '' Godey's Magazine'', ''

Lippincott's Magazine ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' was a 19th-century literary magazine published in Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915, when it relocated to New York to become ''McBride's Magazine''. It merged with ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1916. ''Lippincott's'' ...

'', and '' St. Nicholas Magazine''.

Personal life

Anna Robeson Brown married lawyer Charles Henry Burr Jr. in 1899. They had two daughters, the elder being archaeologist

Dorothy Burr Thompson Dorothy Burr Thompson (August 19, 1900 – May 10, 2001) was an American classical archaeologist and art historian at Bryn Mawr College and a leading authority on Hellenistic terracotta figurines. Biography Thompson was the elder of two dau ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Anna moved herself and her daughters to London to be closer to Charles who was doing work there. Charles Henry Burr Jr. died in 1925. Anna Robeson Brown Burr died in 1941, aged 68 years, from pneumonia."Writer Dies"
''Gettysburg Times'' (September 11, 1941): 11. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

She is interred at

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is 200 acres in size and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in neighboring Ph ...

Bala Cynwyd Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). It was originally two separ ...

, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Anna Robeson 1873 births 1941 deaths American women writers Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery Writers from Philadelphia