Biography of Annie Wilson Howe

ANNIE JOSEPHINE WILSON

Annie Josephine Wilson, affectionately called “Sister Annie” by her family, was born in Hampden-Sydney on September 8, 1853 at 8 3/4 o'clock a.M. Her father, the Reverend Joseph Ruggles Wilson, was teaching at Hampden-Sydney College at the time. She was baptized by B. H. Rice in the college church there (Prince Edward County, Virginia) in November of 1853.Annie attended Augusta Female Seminary (now Mary Baldwin College) in Staunton, Virginia from 1866–1867. She is listed in the college catalog of 1868–1869.
In 1876 she married Dr. George Howe Jr., a medical doctor, in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Howes had two sons, George III, and J. Wilson, and two daughters. Annie Howe Cothran studied music in school and was quite talented. “Little Jessie” died of meningitis on January 30, 1885 when she was still quite young. George III graduated from Princeton with honors and received a degree in classics at Halle in Germany. His mother, Annie Wilson Howe, accompanied him while he studied in Europe.Annie and her husband also took in their niece, Jessie (daughter of Annie and Woodrow's older sister Marian) in 1890 and raised her.Annie and her husband, Dr. Howe, lived in Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Howe died there of appendicitis and peritonitis in April of 1895. Thereafter, Annie lived for extended periods of time with her brother, Woodrow Wilson, and his wife Ellen, especially while they lived at Princeton. Woodrow Wilson also provided much of her financial support in those years.

She was very close to her brothers and sister. They corresponded often. Woodrow and Ellen spent a week at Annie's home after their marriage in 1885. In 1892Ellen went on a long visit to Annie's house and Woodrow wrote to his wife, “Darling, don't grieve Sister Annie by too brief a stay. It breaks my heart nearly in half to give the advice, but stay two weeks to make sure of being generous to her. I love her so much that you must act as I would in the case... ” (Wilson Papers)In 1915Annie, her daughters Mrs. Annie Cothran, and her granddaughter Josephine attended President Wilson's second wedding (to Edith Bolling Galt). Annie had given her firm support to the marriage despite misgivings by other family members.

It was through an accident of Annie's that Woodrow Wilson met his friend and personal physician Admiral Cary Travers Grayson. At the inaugural party for Wilson, Annie fell on a marble staircase and cut her forehead. A servant brought Dr. Grayson who impressed Wilson by quickly treating the wound and sewing it up.Annie Josephine Wilson Howe died on September 16, 1916 of a stroke. She is buried in a family plot at the little church in Columbia, South Carolina where she had been married. The President and his wife attended the funeral.

SUGGESTED READING:
The Priceless Gift, the love letters of Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson, ed. by Eleanor Wilson McAdoo. (This has a few letters with mention of Annie.My Memoir by Edith Bolling Wilson. (this also tells a bit about Annie when Mrs. Edith Wilson knew her.The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 1–36, published by The Princeton Press, ed. by Arthur S. Link. (These volumes have the most complete sets of correspondence between annie and her family. Most volumes have some mention of Annie.Vol. 4 has many lettesrs between Woodrow Wilson and Annie.Vol. 7 has a group of letters between Ellen and Woodrow Wilson while Ellen and her children were staying at Annie's home. These letters give a good idea of what Annie's home life was like.