Anne (Crawford) von Rabe (1846-1912)
Baroness Anne (Crawford) von Rabe; Author, aka "Von Degen"
She was born in Rome, Italy. She was the daughter of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford; sister of the well-known novelists F. Marion Crawford and Mary Crawford Fraser; half-sister of the author Margaret Terry Chanler, wife of Winthrop Astor Chanler; granddaughter of the New York banker Samuel Ward; and, niece of the social activist Julia Ward Howe and her brother the "King of the Lobby" Sam Ward - first cousins of the self-styled arbiter of New York society, Ward McAllister.
In about 1870, she married the "very tall, very lame (his leg was supported by a flexible steel splint), very music-loving German officer" Baron Erich von Rabe. He served with distinction in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) but was severely wounded and was forced to retire to his estate in Lesnian, East Prussia (German Poland). They were visited by Annie's progressive aunt, Julia Ward Howe, but she and the Baron clashed on just about everything: He was rabidly anti-English; cared only for the glory of war; duelling (then all the rage at German universities); maintaining a formal appearance; and, preserving the feudal class system. Annie detested everything German and refused to even speak to him in German, so when he died she wasted no time in returning to Rome where she lived for the remainder of her life. She wrote one book, the supernatural vampire tale A Mystery of the Campagna (1891) that first appeared as a series in Unwin's Annual for 1887 and was later included in the Pseudonym Library under her pen-name "Von Degen".
In about 1870, she married the "very tall, very lame (his leg was supported by a flexible steel splint), very music-loving German officer" Baron Erich von Rabe. He served with distinction in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) but was severely wounded and was forced to retire to his estate in Lesnian, East Prussia (German Poland). They were visited by Annie's progressive aunt, Julia Ward Howe, but she and the Baron clashed on just about everything: He was rabidly anti-English; cared only for the glory of war; duelling (then all the rage at German universities); maintaining a formal appearance; and, preserving the feudal class system. Annie detested everything German and refused to even speak to him in German, so when he died she wasted no time in returning to Rome where she lived for the remainder of her life. She wrote one book, the supernatural vampire tale A Mystery of the Campagna (1891) that first appeared as a series in Unwin's Annual for 1887 and was later included in the Pseudonym Library under her pen-name "Von Degen".
