By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
One of my prized pieces of Kentucky literary memorabilia is a two-volume set of Collins’ Historical Sketches of Kentucky, or The History of Kentucky. It’s a treasure. My edition, truth be told, is not the original but a reprint published by the Kentucky Historical Society in 1966. The information included, however, appears to be the same as the 1874 revised original.
Oh, what a delight it is to page through and read narratives about our Kentucky forebearers, with many, or perhaps most of the names mentioned being unrecognizable for modern readers. Can’t wait to share some of these informational pieces from Collins’ through the upcoming year.
A section in the first volume is titled “The Poets and Poetry of Kentucky,” and it includes a sketch on Danville’s Theodore O’Hara and his iconic poem, “Bivouac of the Dead.” I wrote about O’Hara and his work in this column a few years back.
I was struck, however, by the many noted women poets of the time who were natives of Kentucky or who lived here and wrote impactful poetry. Following are some written sketches of the women literary artists mentioned in the Collins’ book. They’re brief, but seeing them spurred me to find more about each through other sources:
• Amelia B. Welby (1819-1852). A native of Maryland, she moved to Louisville where, according to Collins’, “her poetic genius became generally known.” Starting in 1837, she contributed poems to the Louisville Journal. They were well-received and brought her fame throughout the U.S. She became one of the most popular poets in the South.
• Laura Thurston (1812-1842). Connecticut-born, she spent much of her life in Louisville and also wrote for the Louisville Journal. Though she lived in Indiana and died there, her Louisville Journal writings gave her acclaim. Amelia Welby was a friend of Thurston and wrote a tribute poem about her, called “On the Death of a Sister Poetess.”
• Rebecca S. Nichols (1819-1903). Was born in New Jersey but became a resident of Louisville and Cincinnati. She regularly contributed her poems to periodicals in Louisville, Cincinnati, and cities in the East. She also headed a popular literary periodical in Cincinnati called The Guest.
• Catharine Ann Warfield (1817-1877). Mississippi-born, she resided in Lexington and later moved to Pewee Valley, Kentucky. In 1842, she and her sibling published “Poems by Two Sisters of the West” and in ’46 a second volume. She also contributed poetry to the Louisville Journal.
• Sarah T. Bolton (1820-1893). Bolton was born in Newport Barracks, Kentucky. Her home became Indiana, however, and she would become an unofficial poet laureate of the state. While her husband served as U.S. consul to Switzerland, she acted as a correspondent to the Cincinnati Commercial while living there.
• Mary Elizabeth Nealy (1825-1902). She was born and raised in Louisville, the daughter of a mechanic. When her husband was injured in a railroad accident, she helped support the family by publishing poetry and doing commentary on visual art. The Nealy family moved to Washington, D.C. to be closer to their two sons serving in the Civil War, and she became a correspondent for The Evening Star and contributed to a local poetry anthology.
• Mary E. Wilson Betts (1823-1854). Born in (or around) Maysville, published short poems, including “A Kentuckian Kneels to None but God.” She was married to a Detroit Times editor. Sadly, she died at the young age of 31 with some sort of “congestion of the brain,” noted the Collins’ book. It’s thought that the injury was the result of a gun powder explosion that happened near Betts.
• Mary Rootes Thornton McAboy (1815-1892). A Paris, Kentucky, native, McAboy wrote poetry for the Louisville Journal, Paris Citizen, Paris True Kentuckian, Memphis Enquirer, and Presbyterian Herald, in Cincinnati. She used as her signature for the writings, “M.R.M. Roseheath, Ky.”
• Mattie Griffith (Browne). I found sources saying her birthplace was Owensboro, but Collins’ says Louisville. Her date of birth is also disputed, with 1833 listed in Collins’ but another source saying 1828. She died in 1906. She perhaps was known best for her anti-slavery poetry. She wrote for the Louisville Journal and also for journals in New York and Boston.
• Rosa Johnson Jeffrey (1828-1894). Jeffrey was born in Mississippi, but at about age ten, she moved with her family to Lexington. She wrote poetry for the Louisville Journal and was profiled in the prestigious Graham’s Magazine. Poetry editor of the Louisville Journal, George Prentice, commented that “heaven made her a poet” and praised her work as “beautiful imagery and delightful rhythm.”
• Mary L. Cady (1834-1888). Cady had genealogical ties with Daniel Boone and was born and died in Maysville. She had poems in the Maysville Eagle and the Maysville Bulletin. And like so many other women Kentucky poets of the time, she was published in Kentucky’s Louisville Journal. Her work also appeared in the national periodical, Saturday Evening Post.
• Alice McClure Griffin. I couldn’t find Griffin’s birth or death dates, but she was a native of Newport, Kentucky, and moved to Louisville. In 1864, she published a volume of “Poems by Alice McClure Griffin,” and they were all written at ages fourteen to twenty. Her husband, George Griffin, was also a writer.
• Nelly Marshall McAfee (1845-1898). McAfee was born in Louisville but raised in nearby Henry County and became a prolific poet and novelist. Collins’ states that her writing career started at age 18, with her “taking rank immediately as a brilliant and fluent writer, and in ten years probably wrote more than any woman of her age in the United States.” She wrote two volumes of poetry entitled “A Bunch of Violets” and “Leaves from the Book of My Heart,” along with writing at least six novels.
• Florence Anderson Clark (1835-1918). Born in Virginia, her family moved to Paris, Kentucky, where her father taught at a boys’ college. It is said that she read two classics in literature, Virgil and Horace, when she was only 12. Florence would later teach at her father’s school, too. While there, she published her first prose book, Zenaida, a Romance. Later, she published poems in the Cincinnati Enquirer and, during the Civil War, in the South. In 1869, she married James Clark, editor of the Kentucky People, and they lived in in Harrodsburg.
• Annie Chambers Ketchum (1824-1904). Ketchum was born in Scott County. Her mother was daughter of one of the brothers who established, in 1787, the Kentucky Gazette, a Lexington newspaper reported to be the first west of the Allegheny Mountains. Collins’ said that her poem, “Semper Fidelis,” which appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1873, “is pronounced one of the most finished productions of American literature.”
• Alice Smith Winston. I couldn’t find Winston’s birth and death dates, but she was a native of Cincinnati and moved to Covington. Her poems were published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, often under the name, “Ecila.” Her earliest pieces came in about 1860, according to Collins’.
• Laura Catharine Ford. Another with an unavailable birth and death date, but Ford was a native of Owen County. Inspired by poet-editor George Prentice, she published her poetry in the Louisville Journal, the Courier-Journal, and mainly in the Frankfort Yeoman.
• Sallie M.B. Piatt (1836-1919) Born in Henry County, she married Louisvillian John Piatt, then later moved to Washington, D.C. She published two poetry volumes in Boston, “A Woman’s Poems,” and “A Voyage to the Fortunate Isles.”
The first Collins’ Historical Sketches of Kentucky book was released in 1847 by Mason County judge and editor-publisher of the local newspaper, Lewis Collins. It was revised in 1874 by his son, Richard Collins, and called History of Kentucky.
