EDITH MAY aka Annie Drinker (b. 1827)

A direct descendent of famous diarist Elizabeth Drinker and the eldest of the six children of Joseph and Ann Drinker, Annie Drinker was born and educated in Philadelphia and spent much of her life in Montrose, Pennsylvania. She contributed to periodicals such as Sartain's Magazine and the Home Journal from 1848 to 1850 under the pseudonym "Edith May." Her published volumes include Poems by Edith May (Philadelphia 1854), Tales and Verses for Children (1855), and Katy's Story.

In 1850 she sat for a portrait by Thomas Sully, a sought-after painter among the Philadelphia and Baltimore elite. With regard to her poetry, an admiring reviewer wrote in the November, 1851, issue of American Whig Review that "Miss May appears like one of our modern revolutionists, full of the spirit of energy and vigor… Miss May is a propagandist of her thoughts, and as such makes them catching at a glance."

Another portrait appears in:

Henry Coppée, ed. A Gallery of Distinguished English and American Female Poets (1860), p. 303.

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