Anna Balmer Myers | |
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Born | Manheim, Pennsylvania, U.S. | October 11, 1884
Died | April 7, 1972 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | (aged 87)
Resting place | Fairview Cemetery, Manheim, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Occupation | Writer, teacher |
Period | 1920–1968 (as a writer) |
Anna Balmer Myers was an American author of novels and poetry featuring the local color of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [1] In addition to her writing career Myers spent more than 35 years teaching at a Philadelphia school for physically disabled students. [2]
Myers was born October 11, 1884, in Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John B. and Lizzie Balmer Myers. After graduating from Manheim public schools she attended Drexel University. [3] She taught at the Widener School for Crippled Children (now Widener Memorial School) in Philadelphia. [2]
Myers wrote about the Plain people of Lancaster County. Her first three novels were Patchwork: a Story of the Plain People (1920), Amanda: a Daughter of the Mennonites (1921), and The Madonna of the Curb (1922). [4] Her published poetry collections were Rain on the Roof (1931) and Late Harvest. In 1968, when she was 82 years old, Myers’ novel I Lift My Lamp was published. This final novel incorporated Balmer family history into the story of Henry William Stiegel and the founding of his glassworks in Manheim. [3]
Myers was an expert on glassmaker Henry William Stiegel, and she gave lectures on Stiegel and his time period. In 1934 she was a member of the General Committee that helped erect a memorial to Stiegel in Manheim, Pennsylvania. [5]
She was a member of both the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. [3]
Myers died in Philadelphia on April 7, 1972. She is buried at Fairview Cemetery, Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [2] Myers was the last member of her immediate family. [3]