Dorsey, Anna (Hanson) McKenney

views updated

DORSEY, Anna (Hanson) McKenney

Born 12 December 1815, Washington, D.C.; died 26 December 1896, Washington, D.C.

Daughter of William and Chloe Lanigan McKenney; married Lorenzo Dorsey, 1837; children: five

Descended from prominent Maryland colonists on both sides of her family, Anna McKenney Dorsey was always much involved in both governmental affairs and moral and religious questions. Educated entirely at home, she published verse in magazines even before her marriage in 1837. Both she and her husband converted to Catholicism in 1840 as a result of the influence of the English Oxford Movement in America. Their marriage produced five children, and the youngest daughter, Ella Loraine, became as popular a Catholic writer as her mother.

Though well received in their day, Dorsey's highly melodramatic, Catholic novels are now out of print. An early novel, The Student of Blenheim Forest (1847), is an account of the alienation of a Catholic son from his anti-Catholic father, an important Virginian. Secretly baptized by his Catholic mother, the student reflects the author's own conversion to Catholicism. The plot is typically Victorian with its discovery of hidden relationships, and the point of view is blatantly pro-Catholic. The book is noteworthy, however, for its presentation of the history of Catholicism in Maryland as well as the detailed but readily understandable explanations of various Catholic traditions, such as confession, the Virgin Mary, high Mass, vestments, benediction, and convents.

Zoe's Daughter (1888), another historical tale, is set in the days of Lord Baltimore in Maryland. Other historical novels, noteworthy for their use of dialect, describe the Irish in Ireland or Boston: Nora Brady's Vow (1869), Mona the Vestal (1869), and The Old House at Glenara (1887) trace the history of Christianity in Ireland from the time of the druids through the time of the British landlords to the Irish immigration to America. The intricate plots stress the joys of conversion to Christianity from paganism. Palms (1887), though set in ancient Rome with a wealth of historical detail, follows the same basic scheme.

Although most of Dorsey's stories are predictable in their Catholic bent, she manages to maintain suspense through a clever handling of the plot complications. For example, in Coaina, Rose of the Algonquins (1867), which has twice been dramatized and translated into German and Hindustani, a beautiful young Native American maiden, Coaina, is thwarted in her romance with a young chief through the machinations of her slanderous aunt, a jealous cousin Winonah, and a would-be suitor from another tribe. They are ultimately stymied and confess their guilt because of Coaina's charity and forgiveness. While Christianity predictably triumphs, the marriage is not between Coaina and the young chief but between Coaina and Christ. In other tales, such as The Old Gray Rosary and Tangled Paths (1879), Dorsey mocks the contradiction between Catholic belief and racial prejudice.

Dorsey's tales are sentimental and nostalgic as well as edifying, especially for young people. Consequently, she twice received special blessings from Pope Leo XIII, and the University of Notre Dame awarded her the Laetare Medal.

Other Works:

A Tale of the White and Red Roses (1846). Oriental Pearl (1848). Flowers of Love and Memory (1849). Guy, the Leper (1850). Woodreve Manor (1852). May Brooke (1856). "They're Coming, Grandad!" A Tale of East Tennessee (1865). The Flemings or Truth Triumphs (1869). The Heiress of Carrigmona (1887). Beth's Promise (1887). Adrift (1887). Ada's Trust (1887). Warp and Woof (1887). The Fate of the Dane and Other Stories (1888). Tomboy (1891). The Two Ways (1891). Tears on the Diadem: or, The Crown and the Cloister