Brown, Annmary ()
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Portrait Location: Annmary Brown Memorial
Artist: Ingham, Charles Cromwell (1796 - 1863)
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Brown Portrait Number: 294
Brown Historical Property Number: 0
Annmary Brown was born in Providence on March 9, 1837, the daughter of Nicholas Brown III (see BP 86) and Caroline Matilda Clements of Dover, New Hampshire (see BP 87). She was the granddaughter of Nicholas Brown (see BP 2 and 85), for whom Brown University was named in 1804. Annmary had two sisters: Carrie Brown Bajnotti, born Caroline Mathilde Brown (Carrie Tower was built in 1904 as a memorial to her by her husband), and an elder sister, Annmary (see BP 88 and 294), who died at the age of two in March 1837, only days after her sister's birth. Annmary grew up in Tappan, New York, and joined her parents abroad when her father was appointed US Consul-General in Rome 1846-1849. She received her early schooling at convents in Rome and Geneva, where she finished her education in 1854, at age 17. In New York, four years later, she became engaged to General Rush C. Hawkins (see BP 91 and 97), whom she married in 1860. Annmary Brown Hawkins resided in New York and, to escape the harsh winters in the Northeast, in South Carolina, California and Florida. She spent considerable time abroad, where the climate better accommodated her fragile health. The visits to Europe were also an opportunity to visit her sister Carrie, who lived in Italy after her marriage to Count Banjotti, and to whom Annmary was close.Annmary Brown Hawkins died of pneumonia on March 9, 1903. As a tribute to her, Rush Hawkins commissioned the Annmary Brown Memorial, which was built in her ancestral home of Providence between 1903 and 1907. It housed his European and American art collection and a collection of rare books and manuscripts, Civil War memorabilia and personal correspondence of the Hawkinses. The memorial was deeded to Brown University in 1948 and in 1990 the books and manuscripts were relocated to the John Hay Library. The graves of Annmary and Rush Hawkins are in a crypt at the rear of the memorial. Annmary's birthday is commemorated to this day with fresh flowers on her grave, a practice that Rush Hawkins started during his lifetime and for which he left an endowed fund to perpetuate the tradition.
Charles C. Ingham was born in 1796, in Dublin, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in 1817. He established a very fashionable studio in New York City. He was sought as a portrait painter and miniaturist, and is best known for his flattering forays into female portraiture.