Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt

Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on March 16, 1831, she was the oldest of Bronson Alcott and Abigail May Alcott’s four daughters and the elder sister of Louisa May Alcott. She grew up in the remarkable, often financially strained Alcott household and later became the model for Margaret "Meg" March in Little Women.

She worked as a teacher and took part in family theatricals, an important part of life in the Alcott circle. In 1860 she married John Bridge Pratt, and their family life helped shape some of the most memorable domestic scenes in Louisa’s fiction.

After her husband’s death, she continued on as a mother to their two sons. She died on July 17, 1893, and remains an interesting figure not only because of her place in the Alcott family, but because her life helped give one of American literature’s most beloved characters a real human source.