Anna Maria Menges was born 26 August 1856 in Freeburg, Union County, Pennsylvania and as a child migrated to Elkhart County, Indiana with her parents and siblings. In 1884 she traveled back to Pennsylvania to visit family and friends for several months and took this autograph album with her. Her daughter Edith remembered Anna Maria as a friendly, outgoing, and sociable person. She may also have been something of a flirt. These characteristics are evident in the notes, quotes, and poems her friends and cousins wrote in this album.