Anna McNeill Whistler

[2] Anna McNeill Whistler was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, to Charles Daniel McNeill (1756–1828), a physician, and Martha Kingsley McNeill, daughter of Zephaniah Kingsley Sr. (one of the founders of the University of New Brunswick) and youngest sister of Zephaniah Kingsley (a slave trader and plantation owner, and the husband of the African Ana Madgigine Jai).

[3] In 1831, she married George Washington Whistler, a civil engineer, former army officer,[dead link‍][4][5] and widower who had three children.

When James was nine, his art brought the attention of Scottish painter Sir William Allan.

It was then the family lived in poverty but her daughter helped William and James attend private school.

James entered West Point just before his 17th birthday, was expelled soon after, and moved back to England.