Anna Bustill Smith (1862 – August 1945) was a cousin of

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

and member of Philadelphia's prominent

Bustill family The Bustill family is a prominent American family of largely African, European and Lenape Native American descent. The family has included artists, educators, journalists and activists, both against slavery and against Jim Crow.Woodson, C.G.The ...

. A suffragist, who was the first known

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

genealogist in the United States, she also achieved recognition as an African-American author during the 20th century. Among her most important works are biographical sketches about members of the Bustill family, as well as her ''Reminiscences of Colored People of Princeton, N.J., 1800–1900'', which was a study of Princeton's Black community that was published in 1913.

Formative years

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1862 as Anna Amelia Bustill, Anna Bustill Smith was a great-granddaughter of

Cyrus Bustill Cyrus Bustill (February 2, 1732 1806) was an African American brewer and baker, abolitionist and community leader. A notable business owner in the African American community in Philadelphia, he also became a founding member of the Free African ...

(1732–1806), a formerly enslaved man who purchased his freedom and later became a founding member of Philadelphia's

Free African Society The Free African Society (FAS), founded in 1787, was a benevolent organization that held religious services and provided mutual aid for "free Africans and their descendants" in Philadelphia. The Society was founded by Richard Allen and Absalom ...

, and was the daughter of Sarah Bustill (1828–1891) and her husband, Joseph Cassey Bustill (1822–1895), who had become the youngest member of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

when he was just seventeen years old. In addition to being prominent members of the African-American community in the Philadelphia area, she and her parents were also members of the Quaker church. In 1880, she resided with her parents in Lower Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Later life and death

Anna Bustill Smith later married James H. Smith of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and resided with him in Chicago before they relocated to Philadelphia. In 1913, she published ''Reminiscences of Colored People of Princeton, N.J., 1800–1900'', which was a study of Princeton's Black community. Anna Bustill Smith remained in Philadelphia until her death in August 1945. Her funeral was held on August 10, 1945, at the Jennie Morris funeral parlor, 717 South 19th Street in Philadelphia, and she was buried in Princeton, New Jersey. She was survived by her children: daughters Anna Smith of Philadelphia and Mrs. Virgie S. Rhetta of Chicago, sons John Smith of Chicago and Curtis Smith of Los Angeles, grandchildren Lieutenant Carl W. Rhetta and Staff Sergeant J. Curtis Rhetta, and one great-grandchild, J. Curtis Rhetta, Jr."Paul Robeson's Cousin Dies in Philadelphia," in ''The Michigan Chronicle'', August 25, 1945.

References

External links

* Azumi, Rena
"The Witherspoon-Jackson Community"
(regarding Princeton's African-American community during the 19th century), in "Princeton & Slavery." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, retrieved online March 4, 2021.
Writings of Black Women Suffragists: Anna Bustill Smith
Alexandria, Virginia: Alexander Street, retrieved online March 4, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Anna Bustill 1862 births 1945 deaths 20th-century American women writers African-American suffragists Suffragists from Pennsylvania 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers