Anita Miller Smith - Upbringing

Upbringing

Smith's paternal ancestor, Giles Knight, arrived in the American colonies aboard The Welcome with William Penn in 1682. Knight, a Quaker and former English landowner, established a farm in the Byberry region of Pennsylvania. One of Knight's descendants, Henry Cavalier Smith, an attorney-at-law, married Lucy Pancoast Miller. The couple assumed control of Wyndlawn, the Smith country estate in Torresdale, Pennsylvania. This was where Anita M. Smith was born on October 20, 1893, the youngest of five children.

In 1910 Smith and her mother embarked on a tour of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Smith also took instruction at the Académie Julian in Paris, the art studios of Ferruccio Scattola in Venice, the atelier Forcello in Cairo, and the British Academy in Rome. Each day was divided between morning art instruction and afternoon tours of such museums as the Louvre in Paris, the Palace of the Doges in Venice, and ancient cathedrals including St. Sophia's in Constantinople.