She was the daughter of Gurdon Trumbull and Sarah Ann Trumbull of Stonington, Connecticut. Her given name was Anna, but she appears to have used Annie consistently. Her father, Gurdon Trumbull was originally from Norwich. He was a merchant and local politician in Stonington, and made a fortune in the whale and seal fisheries active in New England at that time. Annie Trumbull was the ninth of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. In 1852 the family moved to Hartford, where she attended public schools and Hartford Female Seminary. She was married in Hartford on June 27, 1867, to Edward Slosson, a lawyer and politician in New York City. They had no children. Annie Trumbull Slosson died at her home on October 4, 1926, and was buried in Hartford, Connecticut.
Family members
Several others of her family were notable in literary, scientific, and religious life:
Slosson is considered a significant author in the "local color" movement of the late 19th century. Most of her works were short stories, many published in The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Bazaar. Some were collected into book form. Literary works by Slosson include:
Noted angling story teller, Henry Van Dyke said this about Fishin' Jimmy:
The loveliest of all her simple narratives is that which I have chosen to stand near the end of this book,--a kind of benediction on anglers.
Entomology
Slosson devoted much of her time to entomology later in life, especially after 1886, though she had no formal college-level training in entomology. In 1892, she was one of the founding members of the New YorkEntomological Society, and it met for some time in her home in New York City. Later, through her efforts, The society met at the American Museum of Natural History. She wrote numerous scientific papers in the field of entomology, and a few in botany as well. Her entomological papers were published in a number of journals, including Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, Entomological News, Canadian Entomologist, and Entomologica Americana. Slosson collected extensively in Florida as well as New York City and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Over one-hundred newly described insects bear the species epithetslossoni in her honor, often because she collected the first specimen. Her collection of some 35,000 insects was donated to the AmericanMuseum of Natural History. Some examples of insects named for her include: Coelioxys slossoni, a leaf-cutter bee, Rhopalotria slossoni, a weevil associated with cycads, especially Zamia pumila, and Zethus slossonae, a wasp. She described, herself, several species, including: Eubaphe meridiana, a geometer moth. By the time of her death in 1926, she was known for her entomological work, but her fiction was largely forgotten.
