Caroline Howard Jervey

Caroline Howard Jervey (pen name, Caroline Howard; June 1, 1823 – January 29, 1877) was an American author and poet. Besides numerous poems and stories for the magazines, she published Vernon Grove and Helen Courtenay's Promise, two volumes of fiction,[1] plus Poetry and Prose for the Young, as well as one book co-authored with her mother, Stories and Poems for children. Sometimes, Jervey used her mother's maiden name as a pen name.[2]

Biography

Caroline Howard Gilman was born in Charleston, South Carolina, June 1, 1823.[1] She was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Gilman, a Unitarian clergyman, and Mrs. Caroline Howard Gilman, the author.[3]

In 1840, Miss Gilman married John Wilson Glover (1823–1846),[4][lower-alpha 1] a South Carolina planter, and was left a widow in 1846, with three children, one son and two daughters. She returned to her father's house, and immediately began to teach, and for fifteen years carried on a successful school in Charleston.[3]

While engaged in teaching, she wrote papers for magazines, also poems, over the signature of "Caroline Howard"; and her novel, Vernon Grove; or, Hearts as they Are, which appeared serially in the Southern Literary Messenger, and was afterward published by Rudd & Carleton, New York City, passing through several editions, and warmly received by the critics. Vernon Grove was copied for the press at night, after Mrs. Glover was in the school-room all day.[3] Jervey published Poetry and Prose for the Young in 1856.[5]

During the war, she removed to a small apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.[3]

In 1865,[lower-alpha 2] she married Lewis (or Louis) Jervey, of Charleston, who had been devotedly-attached to her for many years. By this marriage, she had one daughter.[3]

About 1870, Jervey was in ill health, which prohibited any literary labor, including letterwriting. Her novel, Helen Courtenay's Promise, (published by George W. Carleton, New York, 1866,) was prepared for the press by dictation of an hour a day to one of her daughters. [3] In magazine literature, Jervey acquired considerable distinction. She was also a generous contributor to literature for children.[6]

In 1872, she published Stories and Poems for children with her mother.[5]

Jervey died in Charleston, January 29, 1877.[1][6]

Selected works

• Vernon Grove, 1859
• Helen Courtenay's Promise, 1866
• Poetry and Prose for the Young, 1856
• Poems and Stories by a Mother and Daughter (1872), written with her mother, Mrs. Caroline Howard Gilman

Notes

1. Alderman et al. (1910), recorded her first husband's name as Nelson Glover.[1]
2. Emerson & Stokes (2017) give the date of her wedding to Lewis Jervey as March 1864.[4]

References

1. Alderman, Harris & Kent 1910, p. 222.
2. Unitarian Historical Society 1975, p. 53.
3. Tardy 1870, pp. 866-870.
4. Emerson & Stokes 2017, p. 151.
5. Putnam 1875, p. 76-77.
6. "Death of a gifted woman". The Wilmington Morning Star. 13 March 1877. p. 2. Retrieved 13 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Alderman, Edwin Anderson; Harris, Joel Chandler; Kent, Charles W. (1910). Library of Southern Literature: Biographical dictionary of authors (Public domain ed.). Martin & Hoyt Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Putnam, Alfred Porter (1875). Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith: Being Selections of Hymns and Other Sacred Poems of the Liberal Church in America, with Biographical Sketches of the Writers, and with Historical and Illustrative Notes (Public domain ed.). Roberts. p. 76.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Tardy, Mary T. (1870). Southland Writers: Biographical and Critical Sketches of the Living Female Writers of the South. With Extracts from Their Writings (Public domain ed.). Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Bibliography

• Emerson, W. Eric; Stokes, Karen (15 June 2017). Days of Destruction: Augustine Thomas Smythe and the Civil War Siege of Charleston. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-61117-771-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Unitarian Historical Society (1975). The Proceedings of the Unitarian Historical Society. 17, Part 2. Unitarian Historical Society.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)