Ann Eliza Fritcher was born in Millport, New York to Henry and Annie Ryder Fritcher. She graduated form Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1857 and began teaching in Pennsylvania. In 1859 she returned to Mount Holyoke as a teacher where she stayed until 1863. She then sailed to Turkey to become Principal of the Gilrs' School in Marsovan. She returned to the United States in 1893 and became very ill. She died on June 27, 1896 in Walden, New York.