Anna McNeill Whistler was born in
Wilmington, North Carolina, to Charles Daniel McNeill (1756–1828), a physician, and Martha Kingsley McNeill, daughter of
Zephaniah Kingsley Sr. (one of the founders of the
University of New Brunswick) and youngest sister of
Zephaniah Kingsley (a slave trader and plantation owner, and the husband of the African
Ana Madgigine Jai). In 1831, she married
George Washington Whistler, a civil engineer, former army officer, and
widower who had three children. She gave birth to two sons,
James McNeill Whistler and
William McNeill Whistler. Her husband soon accepted a job in
Russia as a railway
engineer between
Moscow and
St. Petersburg. She had a son named Kirkie who died age four. A son named Charlie also died before Anna had moved to Russia. When James was nine, his art brought the attention of
Scottish painter Sir
William Allan. Anna then enrolled James in the
Imperial Academy of Arts at St. Petersburg. After her husband died of
cholera in 1849, Anna returned to the United States, to live in
Connecticut. Her daughter remained in England after marrying a
surgeon. It was then the family lived in poverty but her daughter helped William and James attend
private school. James entered
West Point just before his 17th birthday, was
expelled soon after, and moved back to England. Her son William became a surgeon in the
Confederate Army during the
American Civil War. In 1863, at the advice of her stepdaughter and son, she moved to England, moving in with her son James in London. She later relocated to St Mary's Terrace, Hastings, east Sussex. She was surprised by her son's "flamboyant
Bohemian lifestyle"; however, she tolerated it, and befriended some of his friends as well. This was around the time the famous painting was made, although it was not the only one. Anna was 67 during the painting of the picture. She died a decade later and is buried in
Hastings Cemetery. ==Further reading==