Obituaries

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Great-Granddaughter, North Shore Resident Dies

Anne Longfellow Dickinson, who was modest about her famous ancestor, was 94. She had lived in Lake Forest for more than 60 years.

Anne Longfellow Dickinson, the great-granddaughter of the iconic American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, died two weeks ago in Northbrook, where she had been living, according to UPI. The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s. She was 94.

Dickinson grew up in Cambridge, Mass., where her famous ancestor lived, until she moved to the Chicago area when she married lawyer William R. Dickinson, Jr., the UPI article says. Her daughter, Amy Dickinson, said her mother was always modest about her connection to Longfellow.

Dickinson lived in Lake Forest for more than 60 years and played the double bass in both the Lake Forest and Evanston symphonies, according to the Chicago Tribune. She had studied music at Radcliffe College before leaving to take a factory job during WWII.

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In 1995, Longfellow School in Buffalo Grove invited Dickinson to talk about her famous relative. "I was stunned that I got this call to speak about my great-grandfather," she told the Tribune. "No one has ever asked me to speak about him before."


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