Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston
Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston (Quincy; pen names, A. W. and W. Q; June 27, 1812 – October 14, 1899) was a 19th-century American writer from Massachusetts. The youngest daughter of Boston's mayor and Harvard University president Josiah Quincy III, she was a member of a prominent family with a wide circle of friends, and was intimately associated with many distinguished people of her era. Waterston published her works, including poems, novels, hymns, and articles in The Atlantic Monthly.
Also recorded as Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy · R. C. Waterston · Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston · Anna Quincy Waterston
Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston

Public domain
- Name
- Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston
- Birth Name
- Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy
- Born
- June 27, 1812
- Birthplace
- Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Place of death
- Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Occupation
- Writer
- Full name
- Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy.
- Died
- 1899.
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Documentary summary
Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston (Quincy; pen names, A. W. and W. Q; June 27, 1812 – October 14, 1899) was a 19th-century American writer from Massachusetts. The youngest daughter of Boston's mayor and Harvard University president Josiah Quincy III, she was a member of a prominent family with a wide circle of friends, and was intimately associated with many distinguished people of her era. Waterston published her works, including poems, novels, hymns, and articles in The Atlantic Monthly.
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Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston was born in 1812. Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston died in 1899. Also known as Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q37783567 · wikipedia · Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston
In this article
Biography
Biography
Her diary was published posthumously.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Anna Cabot Quincy Waterston • Pen Name — * A. C. Q. W. • W. A. C. Q. • Birth Name — Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy • Born — June 27, 1812 • Birthplace — Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. • Place of death — Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. • Resting Place — Mount Auburn Cemetery • Occupation — Writer • Language — English • Genre — poems, novels, hymns, diary • Children — Helen Ruthven Waterston • Parents — Josiah Quincy III • Relatives — * Josiah Quincy II (grandfather) • Josiah Quincy Jr. & Edmund Quincy (brothers)
Early life and family
Early life and family
Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy was born June 27, 1812, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the youngest daughter of Josiah Quincy III, who served as president of Harvard University, U.S. Representative, and Mayor of Boston. Her mother was Eliza Susan Morton Quincy. Anna's grandfather, Josiah Quincy II, had also served as mayor of Boston, as did her brother, Josiah. Her other siblings were: Eliza, Abigail, Maria, Margaret, and Edmund. On April 21, 1840, she married Rev. Robert C. Waterston (1812–93). After passing two years in Europe, and, just as they were all about to return home, their daughter, Helen Ruthven Waterston (1841 - July 25, 1858), died at Naples, Italy.
Career
Career
Some of Waterston's verses were printed in 1863, in a small volume. She also published articles in The Atlantic Monthly. Her pen names included, "A. C. Q. W.", and "W. A. C. Q.". In 1870, after visiting Jeanne Carr, Waterston left Oakland, California, for Yosemite. Waterston was able to gather around her a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. She knew well and was intimately associated with many of the most distinguished people of the former generation. When her father entertained Lafayette, she was a school girl, but the occasions made such an impression upon her mind that she retained a vivid remembrance of it in later years. The cause of the blind was important to her ever since the establishment of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind.
Selected works
Selected works
• Quincy • Sketchbook, ca. 1835 • Together, 1863 • Verses, 1863 • Edmonia Lewis. (The young colored woman who has successfully modelled the bust of Colonel Shaw.)., 1865 • Adelaide Phillipps: A Record. Boston: A. Williams and Company, 1883.
Attribution
Attribution
* * * * *
Posthumously published
• A Woman's Wit & Whimsy: The 1833 Diary of Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy, edited by Beverly Wilson Palmer. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003.
Death and legacy
• Illustration — Edmonia Lewis, Anna Quincy Waterston, 1866, photo by David Finn, ©David Finn Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC Waterston died October 14, 1899, at her home, No. 526 Massachusetts Avenue, in Newton, Massachusetts, where she lived since 1860, and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Her carved marble bust was sculpted by Edmonia Lewis and is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2003, her diary, written at the age of seventeen, was posthumously published under the title A Woman's Wit and Whimsy.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lord, Charles Edward. The Ancestors and Descendants of Lieutenant Tobias Lord. Priv. print. [T. R. Marvin & son]. 121. 1913.
- 2.Smithsonian American Art Museum. Anna Quincy Waterston.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- Sankovitch, Nina. The Lowells of Massachusetts: An American Family. St. Martin's Press. 11 April 2017. 978-1-4668-7811-2.
- Shannon, Hope J. Legendary Locals of Boston's South End. Arcadia Publishing. 2014. 978-1-4671-0112-7.
- Yelverton (Viscountess Avonmore), Thérèse. Zanita: A Tale of the Yo-semite. Ten Speed Press. 1991. 9780898154108.
- Beverly Wilson Palmer (ed.), A Woman's Wit & Whimsy: The 1833 Diary of Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy, Boston : Northeastern University Press, 2003.
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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