Naval History and Heritage Command

Annie Keith Frazier (Mrs. R.N. Somerville), (188_-19__)

At the age of sixteen, Annie Keith Frazier, daughter of then-Governor James B. Frazier of the State of Tennessee, was Sponsor for the armored cruiser Tennessee when that ship was launched on 3 December 1904. In February 1908, when her father was a U.S. Senator from Tennessee, she was the principal founder of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy, an organization which continues to operate to this day. Miss Frazier, who later married R.N. Somerville of Cleveland, Mississippi, remained active in the Society's affairs for the rest of her life.