Annie Maria Barnes

Annie Maria Barnes
"A Woman of the Century"
Born	Annie Maria Barnes May 28, 1857 Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	October 21 1933 or December 31 1943
Pen name	"Cousin Annie"
Occupation	Author
Language	English
Nationality	American
Genre	juvenile literature, novels
Subject	missionary stories[1]
Notable works	The Acanthus

Annie Maria Barnes (pen name, Cousin Annie; May 28, 1857 – October 21 1933 or December 31 1943) was a 19th-century American journalist, editor, and author from South Carolina. At the age of eleven, she wrote an article for the Atlanta Constitution, and at the age of fifteen, she became a regular correspondent of that journal. In 1887, she began publishing The Acanthus, a juvenile paper published in the Southern United States. Barnes published novels from 1887 (Some lowly lives and the heights they reached) until at least 1927 (A knight of Carolina).

Early life and education

Annie Maria Barnes was born in Columbia, South Carolina, May 28, 1857.^[2] She was a daughter of James Daniel and Henrietta Jackson Neville Barnes.^[3] Her mother, a Neville, traced her descent in a direct line from the Earl of Warwick. At the end of the American Civil War, he family like most Southerners, was left with limited financial means.^[2]

Barnes was educated in the public schools of Atlanta, Georgia.^[3] She came from a family of editors, and naturally turned to literature.^[4] When 11 years of age, she wrote an article for the Atlanta Constitution, which was published and favorably noticed by the editor, and at 15, she became a regular correspondent of that journal.^[2]

Career

Before reaching middle age, Barnes had gained recognition in southern juvenile literature. Many of Barnes's earlier works appeared in the Sundayschool Visitor (juvenile periodical; Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tennessee).^[5][2] Barnes served as junior editor for the Woman's Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, having charge of its juvenile paper and of all its quarterly supplies of literature. She was a frequent contributor to leading journals, including Godey's Lady's Book.^[5] She served as the editor of Young Christian Worker and the Little Worker (Methodist Episcopal Church periodicals).^[5][2] In 1887, she began publishing a juvenile paper called The Acanthus (juvenile periodical; Atlanta; 1877–84),^[4][5] which was one of two juvenile papers published in the South at the time. While in literary character, it was a success, financially, like so many other southern publications, it was a failure.^[2]

Barnes's first book was Some Lowly Lives (Nashville, 1885);^[4] and it was followed by The Life of David Livingston (Nashville, Brigham and Smith; 1887), and Scenes in Pioneer Methodism (Nashville, Brigham and Smith; 1889). Later, she wrote The Children of the Kalahari, a child's story of Africa, which was very successful in the United States and in England. She published two books in 1892, The House of Grass and Atlanta Ferryman: A Story of the Chattahoochee.^[2] Among her numerous stories which proved to be quite popular, were: Gospel Among the Slaves, The Ferry Maid of the Chattahoochee (Philadelphia, Penn Publishing Company), "ow Achon-hoah Found the Light (Richmond, Presbyterian Committee of Publication), Matouchon, The Outstretched Hand, Carmio, Little Burden-Sharers, Chonite, Marti, The King's Gift, The Red Miriok, The Little Lady of the Fort, Little Betty Blew, Mistress Moppet, A Lass of Dorchester (Boston, Lee and Shepard), Isilda, Tatong, The Laurel Token, and several others.^[3] Some of her works were written using the pen name, "Cousin Annie".^[6]

Book reviews

Izilda (Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond, Virginia) was reviewed by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who stated that it is a story for girls, the scene of which is laid in São Paulo, Brazil, the centre of a flourishing Protestant mission. The customs and manners of the residents are placed on a background of the Romish religion. Set brightly against it is the happy Christian life of two Brazilian girls, who, by the simplicity of a life in Christ, win souls under the leadership of the American missionary. This book was especially adapted to young women's missionary societies. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society also reviewed Tatono, The Little Slave: A Story of Korea (Presbyterian Publication Committee, Richmond) stating, "The plot is good, the incidents well worked in, and the customs and manners of Korea so thoroughly a part of the story and the missionary element so entirely necessary to it, that the least interested in missions will read every paragraph for the story's sake, while the most interested will seize with eagerness so charming an opportunity to interest the uninterested in the Hermit Nation. The author betrays her southern breeding by occasional provincialisms. Nevertheless, this is the best Korean story we have ever seen."^[7]

Personal life

Barnes resided in Summerville, South Carolina.^[3]

Selected works

References

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Alderman, Edwin Anderson; Harris, Joel Chandler; Kent, Charles William (1910). Library of Southern Literature (Public domain ed.). Martin and Hoyt Company.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Leonard, John W. (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (Public domain ed.). American commonwealth Company. p. 76.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Rutherford, Mildred Lewis (1894). American Authors: A Hand-book of American Literature from Early Colonial to Living Writers (Public domain ed.). Franklin printing and publishing Company.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 54.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (1899). Woman's Missionary Friend (Public domain ed.). Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Bibliography

• Halkett, Samuel; Laing, John (1971). Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous : English literature. Haskell House Publishers. GGKEY:5SY12CPT9ZP.
• Wells, Jonathan Daniel (24 October 2011). Women Writers and Journalists in the Nineteenth-Century South. Cambridge University Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-139-50349-5.

External links

• Works related to Woman of the Century/Annie Maria Barnes at Wikisource
• Works by or about Annie Maria Barnes at Internet Archive