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| Annie Crowninshield Warren, age 88 |
We
have shared stories from Rosamond Warren Gibson’s Recollections of My Life for My Children, including an 1864 trip to
New Orleans during the Civil War. But I was recently excited to learn that Rosamond’s
mother, Annie Crowninshield Warren, wrote a similar work for her own children
entitled Reminiscences of My Life.
Since
I don’t have much of an opportunity to talk about Rosamond’s mother on tours at
the Gibson House, I figured I would share a brief biographical sketch of Annie’s
life on our blog, drawing upon her Reminiscences.
On
September 19, 1815, Annie Caspar Crowninshield was born to Mary Boardman and
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield* of Salem, Mass.; she was one of seven
children.
During
childhood and adolescence, Annie’s two closest companions were her younger
brother Edward and cousin Sarah Silsbee. The three of them spent much of their
playtime together; in fact, Sarah was often at Annie’s house. Sarah, she writes, “always passed the winter with us . .
. Her mother had a large family and was a great invalid. In consequence, my
mother was most kind and attentive to all the children. In fact, we were almost
like one family, and brothers and sisters, instead of cousins.”
Being
of the same age, Annie and Sarah also attended school together. From the ages
of ten to fifteen, the two were under the instruction of a Mr. Thomas Cole in
Salem, attending his lessons in two sessions per day. Mr. Cole placed
particular emphasis on mathematics, Annie recalled, and thus two days each week
were devoted to its study. Under his tutelage, they also covered philosophy,
logic, and Bible study, writing themes each week.
Yet
Annie’s mother Mary harbored greater ambitions for her daughter’s education,
arranging for Annie to study French in the morning hours before school and to
take lessons in music and dance throughout the week. During this period of Annie’s
life, she writes, she was quite content and happy.
At
some point when she was in her late teens, Annie’s father moved the family to a
house in Boston, on the corner of Beacon and Somerset streets. She writes that “it
was a very superb residence and filled with beautiful furniture, mirrors, and
statues.” Annie no doubt was very fond of this house, as she describes it in
great detail in her Reminiscences, noting
that the architecture was “of the highest order, and all the decorations in
exquisite taste.” The music room on the second floor was Annie’s favorite place
in the house to work on her lessons, and she spent a considerable amount of
time there.
At
seventeen, Annie had her “coming-out” party, attending her first ball at a family
friend’s house. “My dress was of white muslin, made in the house, by our seamstress,
and I wore a wreath of pink rosebuds in my hair, which was yet very short.”
About
five or six years later, Annie met Jonathan Masson Warren, a medical student,
at a hotel in Nahant, Mass.. The two were introduced by Jonathan’s brother
Sullivan, whom Annie had known for years. Annie and Jonathan Mason spent a
considerable amount of time together after that, ultimately becoming engaged in
November 1838. The following April, they married. Together they would have
seven children, including Rosamond Warren, born in 1846.
Annie’s
Reminiscences end rather abruptly
with a description of a trip to Rome with her husband in 1855. The introduction
to Reminiscences notes that its
completion was prevented by the illness that preceded Annie’s death on February
27, 1905, when she was ninety years old.
*As
noted in an earlier post, Benjamin Williams Crowninshield was a privateer
during the War of 1812 and served as Secretary of the Navy under Presidents
Madison and Monroe.
By Timothy Spezia, museum docent
Image Source: Reminiscences of My Life
Source:
Annie
Crowninshield Warren, Reminiscences of My
Life (privately printed, 1910).
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