Dorsey, ANNE Hanson, novelist, b. at Georgetown, District of Columbia, U.S. A., 1815; d. at Washington, 26 December, 1896. She was the daughter of the Rev. William McKenney, a chaplain in the United States
Navy, and Chloe Ann Lanigan Mckenney. In 1837 she was married to Lorenzo Dorsey, and in 1840 became a convert to the
Catholic Faith. From this period, for more. than half a century, she devoted her exceptional talent to
Catholic fiction. She was a pioneer of light
Catholic literature in the United States and a leading writer for the young. While deeply religious in tone, her stories are full of living interest and a knowledge of the world gained by clear insight and wide experience. Mrs. Dorsey’s only son was killed while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. She left three daughters. Pope Leo XIII twice sent her his benediction, and the University of Notre Dame conferred upon her the Lætare medal. Her chief works are: “The Student of Blenheim Forest”; “ Flowers of Love and Memory”; “Guy, the Leper”; “Tears of the Diadem”; “Tale of the White and Red Roses”; “ Woodreve Manor”; “Conscience, or the Trials of May Brooke”; “ Oriental Pearl”; “Cocaina, the Rose of the Algonquins”; “The Flemings”; “ Nora Brady’s Vow”; “Mona, the Vestal”; “The Old Gray Rosary”; “Tangled Paths”; “The Old House at Glenarra”; “ Adrift”; “ Ada’s Trust”; “Beth’s Promise”; “The Heiress of Carrigmona”; “Warp and Woof”; “The Palms”. Cycl. of Am. Biog., II, 206; A Round Table of American Catholic Novelisis (New York, 1896).
Mary T. Waggaman.