By birth Ann Lane Petry was a third generation New Englander, a Connecticut Yankee whose maternal grandmother, Anna Houston James, was born in New Haven and whose mother, Bertha James Lane, was born in Hartford. Petry also was the granddaughter of Willis Samuel James who escaped the shackles of human captivity in Virginia on the Underground Railroad and settled in Connecticut where he married Anna Houston. Petry's father, Peter Lane, was a native of Germantown, New Jersey. Ann Lane Petry was the younger of Bertha James Lane and Peter Clark Lane Jr.'s two surviving children. Ann Lane was born 12 October 1908 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where she would reside for all except nine years of her life.

By birth Ann Lane Petry was a third generation New Englander, a Connecticut Yankee whose…

2379 words

Citation: Jimoh, A Yemisi. "Ann Petry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3542, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3542 Ann Petry 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.