Chronology
1864
April 18, Anna Huntington Stanley (later Holbrook) was born in Yellow Springs, OH; she was the fourth child of General David Sloan Stanley (1828 – 1902) of Chester Cedar Valley, OH, and Anna Maria Wright (d. 1895) of Wilkes-Barre, PA.
General David Sloan Stanley
1874
The family moved to Detroit for General Stanley’s military duties at Fort Wayne, MI.
1876
General Stanley was posted in New York, NY.
1881
Willard Ames Holbrook of Wisconsin (later General Stanley’s aide-de-camp and Anna’s husband), won appointment to United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, NY.
1878–82
Anna attended The Buffalo Female Academy, studying painting under Ammi M. Farnham and graduated from high school.
1882–85
Attended The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, studied under Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz. Met students: Pauline “Lena” Dohn (later Rudolph), Anna “Page” Scott, Ida C. Haskell and Susan J. Moody, all of whom remained life-long friends.
1884
General Stanley was ordered to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX, as commanding general of the Texas Territory, the family accompanied.
1885
General Stanley addressed West Point graduates, one of whom, Willard Ames Holbrook, who graduated 17th in his class.
1887–88
Anna attended Académie Julian, Paris, FR and studied under Boulanger and Lefebvre. She lived with Lena Dohn at the Hotel Oxford and Cambridge at 13 rue d’Alger near the Tuileries Garden and the Musée du Louvre.
1888
May 1, exhibited charcoal drawing Portrait de Mme. E. H…: --fusain, Paris Salon. (Location unknown.)
May – November, painted in Rijsoord, NL, with John H. Vanderpoel, formerly an instructor of the Art Institute of Chicago, along with Ida C. Haskell, Alice Kellogg, Page Scott and Lena Dohn.
In November began studying at the Académie Colarossi under Rixen and Courtois. Lived with Alice Kellogg, Ida C. Haskell, Anna Page Scott and Mrs. Hannah Haskell at 16 rue le Verrier near the Luxembourg Gardens. Anna shared a rented a studio with Beulah Strong (through 1889).
1889
May 1, exhibited Au commencement et à la fin (also known as At each end of the Thread), Paris Salon, Paris, FR.
June – November, Anna painted in Rijsoord, NL.
November 14, Anna Stanley and Page Scott arrived in New York from Rotterdam; Anna was resettled in Fort Sam Houston by November 30.
1890
Anna painted her father’s portrait, possibly in Texas.
April 10 – May 17, exhibited At each end of the Thread (also known as Au commencement et à la fin), and Girl Stirring Fire (also known as Dutch Girl Stirring a Fire), National Academy of Design, Annual Exhibition, New York, NY.
1891
June 8 – 27, exhibited, Dutch Girl Stirring a Fire (also known as Girl Stirring Fire), Bringing Home the Milk (also known as The Milk Maid), Little French Sisters (also known as Two Children In Cart and The French Sisters), Detroit Museum of Art (now the Detroit Institute of the Arts), “First Annual Exhibit of American Art,” Detroit, MI.
July 5, exhibited Brevet-Maj-General David Stanley, O’Brien Galleries Chicago, IL.
August – June 1892, 1st Lieutenant Willard Ames Holbrook was Aide-de-camp to General Stanley in Texas.
1892
In June General Stanley retired at Fort Sam Houston, TX and Lieutenant Holbrook was posted to West Point.
November 21 – December 17, exhibited Busy Bee at the National Academy of Design, Autumn Exhibition, New York, NY (currently missing).
1893
September 13, General Stanley begins his appointment as Governor of the Old Soldiers’ Home, Washington, DC, through April 15, 1898.
1894
January 20 – Feb. 17, exhibited Study of Girl (also called Girl Reading), Boston Art Club, Boston, MA.
April 2 – May 12, exhibited Study of Girl (also called Girl Reading), National Academy of Design Annual Exhibition, New York, NY, which competed for the Norman W. Dodge Prize.
April 9 – 14, exhibited Portrait of a West Point Cadet (also called Cadet [portrait of David Sheridan Stanley]), Society of Washington Artists at the Cosmos Club, Washington, DC.
December 10 – 15, exhibited The Milk Maid (also known as Bringing Home the Milk), Two Children In Cart (also called The French Sisters), Girl Reading (also called Study Of A Girl), Grand Art Loan Exhibition, Washington, DC.
1895
April 23, Anna’s mother, Anna Maria Wright Stanley died in Washington, DC and was buried at the Soldiers’ Home National Cemetery.
June, attended graduation of Anna’s brother, David, from West Point and met instructor (and future husband) Lieutenant Willard A. Holbrook. He and Anna took a boating ride around Constitution Island with his sister as chaperone.
June 22, Anna returned to Netherlands, via New York, with Ida C. Haskell on the Holland America Line steamship, SS Spaarndam.
November, Anna returned to the United States; Willard Holbrook missed meeting her ship.
December 23 – January 11, exhibited Harvest – Holland (also called Girl Carrying Sheaves) at the National Academy of Design, Autumn Exhibition, New York, NY.
1896
March 2 – 7, exhibited Heather-covered Dunes – Holland (possibly Field of Bluebells or Blue Flowers in a Field, location unknown), A North Holland Peasant, Harvest – Holland (possibly Girl Carrying Sheaves), and The Hopeful Fisherman (also called The Lone Fisherman), Society of Washington Artists at the Cosmos Club, Washington, DC.
April 26, exhibited Summer (also called Dutch Bride), Sand Sifter (also called Girl with a Winnowing Basket), The Road (also called Road by a Canal), The Windmill (also called Landscape with Windmills and Road by a Canal), and The Lone Fisherman (also called The Hopeful Fisherman), Veerhoff Galleries, Washington, DC.
October 1, Anna and Lieutenant Willard Ames Holbrook, 7th Cavalry, married in the Chapel at the Old Soldiers’ Home Washington, DC.; the reception followed at General Stanley’s residence (General Quarters No. 1).
December 1, Anna moved with Willard to his post at Fort Grant, AZ.
1897
April 5 – 10, exhibited The Spinning Wheel at the Society of Washington Artists, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC.
1898
April 15, General Stanley retired from the Old Soldiers’ Home. He moved to a town house located at 2119 ‘O’ Street NW, Washington, DC with daughters Josephine and Blanche.
May 31, Willard Ames Holbrook, Jr. was born Fort Grant, AZ.
June 13, Captain Holbrook was ordered to Chickamauga, GA and then to Cuba. Anna visited friends and then went to Washington, DC, with Willard Jr. Anna (there she wrote her will).
1899
The family moved to Fort Stevens, OR, where Willard expanded the Fort; the same year Willard was ordered to the Philippines.
1900
April 20, David Stanley Holbrook born on Angel Island, San Francisco, CA. Anna’s sister, Sarah Elizabeth “Lil” Stanley Rumbough, witnessed the Christening.
Anna and her sons returned to Washington, DC to live with Anna’s father, General Stanley, while Willard was in the Philippines (until 1901).
1901
Ca. September 15, Anna sailed with her sons and their nanny (Barbara) to Manila, Philippines to meet her husband.
September 25, the family sailed to San Jose de Buenavista, Panay, where Major Holbrook served as the Civilian Governor.
1902
March 13, Anna’s father, General David Sloan Stanley, died in Washington, DC and was buried at the Soldiers Home National Cemetery.
Willard and Anna visited Korea and Japan; Anna painted watercolors in Nikko, JP.
1903
February 6, Anna, Barbara and the boys returned to San Francisco on USS Sheridan troop transport.
June 5 – July 17, Willard and his brother, Roy, traveled on troop transport to Nagasaki, JP and San Francisco, CA.
The family moved to Fort Huachuca, AZ, and then to Fort Whipple, Prescott, AZ, where they lived until 1905.
1905
September, Major Holbrook was assigned to teach at the Pennsylvania Military College, Chester, PA.
1907
February 25, 1907, Anna Huntington Stanley died of pneumonia in Chester, PA at 42 years of age. She was buried at the Soldiers’ Home National Cemetery in Washington, DC.