Anna was born in New York's east side, the first child of David Olyphant Vail and Cornelia Georgina Van Rensselear. On her mother's side, she is descended from two of New York's most elite Dutch families, the Van Rensselear and Van Cortlandts. Her great-great-grandfather was General Robert Van Rensselaer, who fought at Ticonderoga during the American Revolution under the orders of his mother's brother in law, General Philip Schuyler. Her younger sister, Cornelia, married Henry Golden Dearth a distinguished American painter. Her father, David Olyphant Vail, was the son of Benjamin C. and Eliza Ann Vail. David O. Vail's connection to the Olyphant family is through his maternal grandmother, Ann Mckenzie. Her first husband was Zeno Archer, whom she married in 1803. Their daughter was Eliza Ann who married Benjamin Vail. Following Zeno's death, Ann McKenzie Archer married David W.C. Olyphant. David O. Vail is listed as a "merchant" on an 1862 ship manifest and in a Van Rensselaer family history is described as "...resident partner of the house of Olyphant & Company at Shanghai, China." His death notice describes him as being "...lately of China...", but it is not clear where or of what he died in 1865 at age 32. His middle name, Olyphant, and the fact that he worked for Olyphant & Company reflect his connection to that family on his mother's side. Olyphant and Company, founded in 1827 by David WC Olyphant and Charles N. Talbot, was one of the pioneers of the Old China Trade.
Professional activities
Her early education was in Europe but by 1895 she was back in the United States and working at Columbia University with Nathaniel Lord Britton, who with his wife Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, was the founding force behind the New York Botanical Garden. In January 1900, she became the first librarian of the newly founded Bronx institution's library, a post she held until September 1907. While in New York, she was the author of over a dozen scientific papers. Her notes, preserved in the Archives and Manuscripts collection of the New York Botanical Garden, include sketches of some of the plants she studied. In 1903 Vail traveled to Paris, France, for an auction of the botanical literature of the late Professor Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan. She obtained over 400 items, including ten volumes of John Sibthorp's Flora graeca. Vail wrote on numerous botanical topics; for example, her 1898 co-authored work, details "New or Rare Mosses", such as Anacamptodon Splachnoides. An account in the records of the New York Botanical Garden presents Vail's resignation from the Garden's Library as resulting from her indignation of being accused of smoking cigarettes in the library. However, this account is disputed by a letter in the files of Nathaniel Lord Britton dated September 28, 1907, which mentions her departure as being due to an extended separation from her mother, who was living in France. This letter indicates no ill will. In 1911 she moved to France. During World War I, she became active in the American Fund for French Wounded, eventually becoming its treasurer. A letter to the head of the U.S.-based organization, Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, was published in The New York Times. The letter reads, in part,
Every department of the Red Cross has borrowed nurses and aids, and we of the American Fund have given everything we had for the emergency. If it gets worse, I shall offer my own services, for I can make beds and clean up, and no part of the work will terrify me, even if I am not a trained nurse.
Later years
While living in France she acquired a house in Hericy. Here she would spend her remaining years, continuing her work as a librarian until blindness forced her to stop. She died in Vieux Logis on December 18, 1955, and is buried in the municipal cemetery at Hericy.
