Ann Eliza Bleecker (1752 - 1783)

Ann Eliza Bleecker

Ann Eliza Bleecker, née Schuyler, is an American poet and writer.

Ann from a young age surprised others with her poetic and literary talent. Married to lawyer John James Bleecker, she continued to write sentimental poems and so-called letters in which she enclosed her compositions. The family idyll was disrupted with the onset of the British offensive during the American Revolution. Ann and her husband had to flee, they experienced much grief and loss. All this greatly affected the character and creativity of Ann Bleecker.

In her most famous fiction narrative "The Story of Maria Kittle", which is addressed to her cousin, Ann describes the hardships of surviving captivity with the cruel Native Americans.

Ann Eliza Bleecker died at the age of 32, leaving behind manuscripts of poetry and prose that she never intended to publish. A few years later, her daughter, the poet Margaret Foger, published a significant portion of Bleeker's work, including twenty-three letters, thirty-six poems, and "The History of Maria Kittle," first in The New-York Magazine in 1790 and 1791, and then in a collection entitled "The Posthumous Works of Anne Eliza Bleecker" in 1793. "The History of Mary Kittle" was reprinted separately in 1797, a testament to the novel's popularity.