2276913Woman of the Century — Anna Gardner

GARDNER, Miss Anna, anti-slavery' agitator, born on the Island of Nantucket, 25th January, 1816. Her father, Oliver C. Gardner, was related to most of the prominent families in Nantucket, among whom were the Cartwrights, and through them Miss Gardner is descended from Peter Folger, the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, and she is thus related to Lucretia Mott, Maria Mitchell and other distinguished men and women. Through her mother, Hannah Mackerel Gardner, she can claim descent from Tristram Coffin, the first magistrate of Nantucket. Seven generations of her ancestors lived in Nantucket. Miss Gardner's literary tastes and talents were inherited from her mother, who was known for her love of classical poetry. On her father's side, also, she received a literary strain, as the Cartwright family has produced poets in each generation. Slavery and its horrors were early forced upon Miss Gardner's attention. She became a student, a teacher, a lecturer and a worker in the cause of human liberty and equal rights. She was a regular reader of the "Liberator" when she was eighteen vears old In 1841 she was instrumental in calling an anti-slavery convention upon her native isle, which was largely attended. In that meeting Frederick Douglass made his first appearance as a public speaker. He had been exhorting in the Methodist Church and was unprepared for the call made upon him. Nevertheless, he responded and electrified his audience. .Miss Gardner spent many years in ANNA GARDNER. teaching the freed men in the South. Her work was done in North Carolina, Smith Carolina and Virginia. She returned to the North in 1878, and in Brooklyn, N. V., she was injured by a carriage accident The result was long weeks of suffering, a partial recovery, crutches and a return to her Nantucket home, where she is passing her days in serenity. She is still engaged in teaching those around her, and her pen is still active in the interests of truth and philanthropy. Besides her anti-slavery work, Miss Gardner has worked faithfully and potently in the cause of woman's rights. She lectured several times before the Nantucket Athenæum. In 1881 she published a volume of prose and verse, entitled " Harvest Gleanings." The work shows Miss Gardner's talents at their best.