Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell
Historic Hillsborough Commission
Historic Hillsborough Commission
(1810-1871)
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Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell was born in Virginia on October 3rd, 1810 to William Bruce Robertson and hiis wife Ann Spotswood Robertson. She was raised primarily by her mother's sister, Susan Catherina Robertson Bott. Known as Anna, she was well educated and had some teaching experience before her marriage to Presbyterian minister Robert Armistead Burwell on December 22nd, 1831.
In 1835, Anna, Robert, and their two children moved from Virginia to Hillsborough, NC. Shortly after the move, Anna would deliver her third child. To supplement her husband's income and support their every-growing family, Anna started a school for young ladies in 1837. For the next 20 years, the school would educate more than 200 young white women. The Burwell family would grow to 12 children before they left Hillsborough in 1857 to start the Charlotte Female Institute.
While Robert was listed as the main principal of the school, Anna shouldered much of the workload. She taught, wrote the circulars, completed progress reports and kept up correspondence all while fulfilling the requirements of a mother and the wife of a minister. She did not complete this work alone, however. The Burwell household was served by numerous enslaved peoples and employed servants after the Civil War.
Anna Burwell died on June 21st, 1871 at the age of 60. She is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, NC.
Margaret Anna Robertson was born on October 3, 1810. She died on June 21, 1871, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Oxford, Granville County, NC, USA.
[1], Frances Armistead Burwell (1838-1856) [1], Mary Susan Burwell (1832-1859) [1] and Virginia Isabella Burwell (1851-1867) [1]. [1]. (niece) and Virginia Bridges (niece, 1832-1859).