BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. ANN WILLSON was the daughter of John and Rebecca Willson, of Rahway, East Jersey. Her childhood was marked by an ardent and affectionate temperament, and while her timorous and sensitive nature shrank from the observation of strangers, in the domestic circle were developed those various traits that so conspicuously adorned her more matured character. In the twenty third year of her age, she had first to drink of the cup of affliction, by the death of her beloved father, to whom she was not only attached by nature's tie, but by a strong spiritual affinity. About five years after, her maternal support was also removed. Her feelings on these occasions are more fully portrayed in her letters to her friends, than they could be by the language of another. Her brother Samuel, four years older than herself, she and a younger sister, now composed the family. The latter married in the spring of 1827, and removed to the southern part of Jersey; and in the 10th mo. following, he to whom she clung with peculiar tenderness, and who was emphatically her earthly stay, was called to his eternal home. Under these repeated bereavements she evidenced a holy resignation, in which was uttered from the depths of feeling, "Thy will be done." Soon after the decease of her brother S., she went to reside with her brother and sister at Port Elizabeth, N. J. Her frequent allusions to her home with them, prove the affectionate solicitude with which they were regarded. Notwithstanding her delicate and slender constitution, she was here eminently useful, blending the characters of aunt and mother in the full adoption of the children. And it is principally that these objects of her care may have a knowledge of one who watched their infantile years with unremitted anxiety, and who appeared to live for them rather than for herself, that this little volume of "Familiar Letters" has been compiled, -believing they present a more faithful portrait of her pure and cultivated mind than could be otherwise drawn. And for the more full accomplishment of this, though they were often written in a hurried moment, and not with the most remote view to publicity, from which her humility would have recoiled, they are given in their native dress, except an occasional transposition of a word or two, and the omission of such parts as were of interest only to those concerned. The love of the beautiful and good is so strongly depicted throughout them, that it scarcely requires a notice here, and yet it was so interwoven with each word and deed, that it seems inseparable from thought of her. The crowning virtue, charity, was her diadem; if fault was found with another in her presence, she invariably had some palliative to offer, thus bearing an uncompromising testimony against detraction. Contrary to her usual practice in matters of duty, when her feelings were arrested on the subject of Free Produce, she turned from the requisition, unwilling to yield, and for a long time carefully avoided reading anything upon the subject; but one day, on opening the New Testament, her eye rested upon the 23d verse of the 14th chap. of Romans; she closed the book disarmed of all opposition, and continued through the remainder of her life, a period of more than twenty years, faithful to her convictions by abstaining as far as possible from the use of the products of unrequited labor. In 1834, after many seasons of secret suffering, she appeared as a minister. To use her own simile, she "was obliged to expose her simple wares for the sake of a livelihood." Her offerings were distinguished for their vitality and originalityoften exemplifying the proverb, that, "A word fitly spoken, is as apples of gold in pictures of silver." She became a member of the meeting for Ministers and Elders in 1836. During that winter, she accompanied her BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5 friend, J. J., in a visit to the Particular and Monthly Meetings of Salem Quarter, and to some meetings within the limits of Burlington and Haddonfield. She subsequently visited the families of her own Monthly Meeting, (Maurice River,) also those of Woodbury, Piles Grove, Rahway, and Plainfield, and a number belonging to Kingwood. For this service she was peculiarly qualified, possessing in an eminent degree, the gift of quick spiritual discernment. Her religious missions were not frequent; the most distant was that to the land of her nativity, which is touchingly alluded to in one or more of her letters. The death of her brother-in-law, I. Townsend, Jr., in the summer of 1839, opened again the floodgate of affliction. In this hour of trial she not only sought refuge herself beneath the wing of Divine Love, but extended a hand to gather the widow and the fatherless under its shadow. Her health, which had never been strong, was now evidently declining, attended with much suffering. In the spring of 1842, she removed with her sister and family to Philadelphia. Her indisposition continuing to increase, she yielded to the wishes of her friends, who hoped a visit to New York might be useful; but after a tarriance there of several months, she returned, without being materially benefitted. Her mind during this period was quiet and peaceful. She significantly remarked, "that her work basket was empty, and she seemed to have nothing to do." A few days before her close she observed to a friend, that she "felt as a child resting upon a paternal bosom." Thus ended her excellent life on the 4th of 12th mo. 1843, in the 46th year of her age. |