Anna Dutter was born to Peter and Lucinda Dotter in Portage County, Ohio about 1855. Her father passed away in 1860. Anna married Rosco Manchester in 1872 and they had two sons before moving to Deerfield, Michigan where Rosco oversaw a livery stable. Ann was a housewife.
The couple ended their relationship during the 1880s. By 1890, Ann was going by the name Mrs. Anna L. Robinson. She was very active as a lecturer and medium in the Spiritualism community, attending the Mantua Springs and Haslett Park summer camps. Her 1893 Hazlett Park Camp meeting address was entitled: “Concentration of Thought and Forces and Spiritual Development.”
Anna moved to Port Huron, Michigan in 1893 where she became pastor of the United Progressive Club. The Port Huron Times Herald, 22 November 1893, published United Progressive Club resolutions in her honor. One being, “That we will ever cherish with suspect, love and affection, the memory of Mrs. Anna L. Robinson, who has brought joy to so many sorrowing hearts, with loving, tender messages from spirit friends, and who has so long and so faithfully labored for the cause of humanity and truth, and the upbuilding of all those principles which elevate and beautify our lives, bringing us nearer to the Angel-world, and enlarging our sphere of usefulness among our fellows.”
In the 24 February 1894, Progressive Thinker, Stuart L Rogers wrote: “I wish to inform the Spiritualists that my opinion of Sister Anna. L Robinson, of Port Huron, Mich., is that she is a superior instrument in the hands of the angels. I have had some demonstrations through her that are very correct. I am an old investigator of the spiritual philosophy, and my opportunities have been very good.” Mrs. Robinsons spirit contact was named Alice. Others commented on her elegance and ability to attract large audiences.
Anna’s popularity increased. She established a Band of Mercy with 60 members and attended the state association in 1894. She lectured and was a test medium at Catalpa Camp in Liberal, Missouri in 1894 and became Vice President of the camp the following year. In the 18 May 1895, edition of Light of Truth, a personal story about one of her readings was published in detail.
Anna married Jerimiah S. Gillespie in Port Huron in 1899 and attended Camp Chesterfield in Indiana and Lily Dale the same year. The Muncie Morning News, 28 July 1899 quoted part of her lecture, “I believe we often make mistakes in our prayers. We most always pray for a happy time in the spirit world. Would it not be better to pray: ‘Oh, guiding Spirit, help us to know how to make ourselves happy here and now?’ Do not ask God to forgive our sins, but let us learn how not to commit them, for cause is always followed by its legitimate effect. Let us not cry, ‘Warehouse man what of the night?’ but what of the day, of this day, of every day.” She continued, “Yes, Spiritualism is the truth, investigate and enjoy it, but always hold your own spirit intact. Get all you can from your spirit teachers and then sift through your own mental sieve.”
By1900, Anna and Jeremiah Gillespie were living in Oakland, California with her two sons and an adopted daughter. Gillespie was secretary of the Philosophical Journal published in San Francisco and president of the California State Spiritualists Association. Anna was pastor of the People’s Church in San Francisco and continued to attend Spiritualist camps across the country, including Camp Brady and Camp Chesterfield.
Later in her life, Anna returned to Michigan and became pastor First Spiritualist Church in Battle Creek. Her 1926 obituary stated that she was one of the “best known workers among spiritualistic circles in the United States and Canada.” She was “actively associated with the Lily Dale spiritualistic camp in New York State and National Superintendent of the Lyceums of the United States and Canada.”