G. W. Hoag, born in Charlotte, Vermont, was of Quaker parentage and a pioneer in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Michigan, having gone to that State in boyhood.

Her mother, Elizabeth Bruce Hoag, from Rochester, New York, was gifted with pen and voice, and was a high official in the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of her church.

[2] In 1873, she married L. Hamline Brockway, of Albion, where they lived for 15 years, when his election as county clerk caused their removal to Marshall, Michigan.

[3] In 1885, Avann, then Mrs. Brockway, thinking "some good should come as the hours go by", couseling with Mrs. A. G. Dickey, organized "the Monday club" in Marshall and was elected its first president.

She made frequent contributions to the religious press, and was connected with various literary, social and benevolent societies, holding official positions.