A portrait and genre painter, Anna grew up in a well-to-do family in San Francisco. Her father, John Gerald Klumpke was born in Suttrup about 35 miles northwest of Osnabrück but immigrated with his family to New Orleans where he attended college. Like so many other young men he was drawn to the California gold rush yet struck it rich instead in the real estate business. Anna’s mother Dorthea Mathilda Tolle, a first-generation German-American, had grand ambitions for her children, especially her five daughters who she pushed to have careers and financial independence. Anna was the oldest daughter in this family which spoke German at home. At the age of three she fell and fractured her femur which did not heal properly. When she was five, she fell again and developed osteomyelitis with purulent knee arthritis. Anna would always walk with a cane, which influenced her choice of professions. Because of her injury she was tutored at home with lessons in French, art, and music. As a childhood gift she received a Rosa doll, which had a porcelain face of Rosa Bonheur, a French artist who would later become important in Anna’s life. The doll also made her realize women could be artists.
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