Anna Bronson was the first daughter of
Amos Bronson Alcott and
Abigail May Alcott. Beginning immediately after she was born, Bronson made careful observations of Anna’s behavior as an infant and upon these based unpublished manuscripts. Unlike many Americans of the time, neither Bronson nor Abby believed that babies were born tainted by original sin, and Bronson’s copious notes highlighted Anna’s moral character as a confirmation of his cherished educational theories. Anna was proficient in languages, having quickly mastered German as well as French and reading Krummacher’s parables in the original. She was an actress and a founding member of the Concord Players. She began a promising teaching career by instructing her sisters
Elizabeth and
Abba in various subjects, teaching
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughters, and then keeping school at Walpole, New Hampshire, Boston, Massachusetts, and Syracuse, New York. In 1860 she married John Pratt.