Genealogy of Six Annas

GENEALOGY OF SIX ANNAS.

In 1829, Elizabeth Myers, daughter of Jacob and Sally Myers, of Baltimore, Md., became engaged to a Norwegian, Captain John Madison Martin, who owned his own vessel, the "Patraella."  Her mother planned a most elaborate wedding, but sweet, little blonde Elizabeth positively re­fused to select the date until her sister was brought home from boarding school to attend the wedding. She was a tall, handsome brunette named

ANNA I, and as soon as Captain Martin was presented to her, she said, "You are the handsomest man, I have ever seen _in my life!  None of the family wrote half how handsome you are!”  While Elizabeth was upstairs sewing on her wedding clothes, Anna flattered the Captain, and on the eve of the wedding, Anna and Captain Martin eloped, were married on board his ship, the "Patraella” and sailed away. So when the wedding day dawned, Elizabeth had neither bridegroom, nor sister, nor ship, only her trousseau was left to her.  Later, Anna begged her sister's pardon, and named her first child for both of them. Elizabeth for­gave her with the reservation that, she hoped Anna would never have a son to inherit the fortune in Norway entailed to the male line, as she knew that was the reason why Anna married him. They had 5 daughters, one dying in infancy, one named "Patraella" for the ship, and the eldest one named Anna Elizabeth was;­

ANNA II, born 1830. When she lacked 3 weeks of being 15, she was married 1845 to a Frenchman, named Napoleon Bonaparte Keene, whose father had fought under Napoleon, the Great, and they lived in New Orleans, La.  Soon after this marriage her parents died, and her 3 sisters lived in her home until they married. They had 10 children in 14 years and reared 7 daughters and 1 son. The son was drowned in Lake Ponchartrain when he was 20. The oldest living daughter, Lydia, had a son who was lost climbing the Alps when he was 20. The second daughter who was;­

ANNA III, married a drunkard, named Strobel. They had 6 children, 2 dying young, and the son, when he was 20, walked out into the streets of Chicago, and was never heard of afterwards. No one ever knew what happened to him. She and her children were supported from her father's estate until the children were old enough to work. (Her father, N. B. Keene, was a cotton broker, and his seat on the Stock Exchange, in New Orleans, was sold for $20,000.00 at his death). Her sister, Laura, married Charles Wythe Gleaves, and they had:

ANNA IV, and 3 other daughters. She married John Robert Rich, Sr., and they had 10 children in 15 years and reared 6 of them. The oldest son, Charles Wythe Gleaves Rich, was the first son to attain his majority in more than a century. But as the fortune had been unclaimed for 100 years, it had lapsed to the Crown, and King of Norway received it.   Their daughter Anna Bob Rich was:­

ANNA V, graduate nurse, and her patients included Andrew Mellon, Mrs. John L. Lewis, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and the niece of Andrew Carnegie. She married James Vernon Sampselle, Jr., and their daughter Anna Alice Sampselle, was:

ANNA VI, who is called Alice after her great Aunt Alice Gleaves who was a concert violinist, who has toured America and Europe in recitals, and famous artist, whose pictures have been hung in the Louvre            

Captain John Madison Martin brought a lace shawl from Chantilly, France, as a wedding gift to his eldest daughter, and it has been worn at the weddings of each of the Annas since, and is entailed to be always inherited by the daughter named Anna. The shawl is now more than a century old, and its value has been estimated at $1,000.00.

                                                                        Anna Gleaves Rich (Mrs. J. R.)

                                                                        May 13, 1947

ANNA VI, married Leslie Alvin Hix, and their daughter, Anna Leslie Hix, was:

ANNA VII, who was named for her mother and father just as her grandmother Anna Bob Rich was named for her mother and father.