Caroline Lee Hentz - Personal Life

Personal Life

Being the youngest of eight, Caroline watched as “three of her brothers became officers and served in the War of 1812” (Perry and Weaks of Southern 82) Their letters home and “tales of patriotic adventure” (Perry and Weaks 82) were great inspiration to Caroline. As a young girl, Caroline was “popular with her companions, playing games, taking woodland walks, and studying nature” (Perry and Weaks 82). On September 30, 1824, Caroline married Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, “a political refugee from Metz son of a member of the French National Convention” (Perry and Weaks 82). The couple originally lived near Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts where Nicholas was an instructor (Perry and Weaks 82). In 1826, the couple moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where Nicholas became the chair of Modern Languages (Perry and Weaks 82). The couple left shortly after for Covington, Kentucky where Nicholas later found a girls’ school in 1830 (Perry and Weaks 82). From their new home in Covington, Caroline wrote the prize-winning tragedy De Lara; or, The Moorish Bride for William Pelby. Although he offered her a $500 prize, he was unable to pay and gave Hentz back the copyright (Perry and Weaks 83). In 1832, the couple opened a girls’ school in Cincinnati (Perry and Weaks 83). While there, Caroline joined the Semi-Colon Club which is probably where her acquaintance with Harriet Beecher Stowe began (Perry and Weaks 83). During their time in Cincinnati, Nicholas portrayed an irrational jealousy that later fueled Caroline’s Byronic heroes. “According to their son, Dr. Charles A. Hentz, Colonel King of the Semi-Colon Club sent an improper note to the dignified and accomplished Mrs. Hentz” (Perry and Weaks 83). When she attempted to respond to the note, her suspicious husband discovered the correspondence. After threatening to duel Colonel King, Nicholas swiftly closed down the school and the couple moved to Florence, Alabama, where they opened another school (Perry and Weaks 83). The couple had a total of five children, though their oldest son died when he was only two years old (Knight 193). While in Florence, Caroline spent most of her time caring for the couples’ four children. Her writing began to diminish over this period of time, though she managed to write some poetry and kept a diary that inspired the “letters, deathbed confession, and other lamentations that are hallmarks of her novels” (Perry and Weaks 83). After living in Florence for nine years, the family found another school in Tuscaloosa in the year 1843 (Perry and Weaks 83). In 1845, the family opened yet another school in Tuskegee, which was then nothing more than a village (Perry and Weaks 83). This began a lapse in her publishing career as she prepared her children for the adult world and married off one of her daughters (Perry and Weaks 83). In 1848, the couple opened a school in Columbus, Georgia (Perry and Weaks 83). One year later, in 1849, Nicholas became an invalid and Caroline was left to support her family, despite the fact that she herself was not well (Perry and Weaks 83). Two of the Hentz’s children settled down in Marianna, Florida and the couple moved to join them there in 1852 (Perry and Weaks 84). “During her husband’s illness, Caroline wrote at his bedside, dividing her attention among his care, the demands of the literary public, and the occasional visitors who would disturb her routine (Perry and Weaks 84). In 1853, she returned to New England for a brief visit before making her way back to Florida (Perry and Weaks 84). After nearly five years of supporting her family financially and nursing her husband, Caroline Lee Whiting Hentz died of pneumonia on February 11, 1856 (Perry and Weaks 84). Nicholas Hentz died a few months later (Perry and Weaks 84). The couple is buried under one stone in the Episcopal Cemetery in Marianne (Perry and Weaks 84).