A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Hentz, Caroline Lee
HENTZ, CAROLINE LEE,
Was born in Lancaster, Worcester county, Massachusetts. Her father was General John Whiting, of the army. Her two brothers were also officers in the army, and one of them. General Henry Whiting, was aide-de-camp to General Taylor, in the Mexican war. Miss Whiting began to write when very young; and before she had completed her twelfth year, she had composed a poem, a novel, and a tragedy in five acts, full of impassioned scenes and romantic situations. Upon her marriage, she removed to Chapel Hill, North Carolina; in its University, her husband, Mr. N. M. Hentz, was Professor of Modern Languages. After some years spent in this place, they took charge of a flourishing female academy near Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1834, they went to reside near Florence, Alabama, at a place they called Locust Dell, where they taught for several years. Stronger inducements led them to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the seat of the University, where they spent two years. In 1845, Mr. Hentz, removed to Tuskegee with his family, and at present they are residing in Columbus, Georgia, a beautiful city on the banks of the Chattahooche.
The first work which Mrs. Hentz published, was her drama "De Lara, or the Moorish Bride," for which she obtained the prize of five hundred dollars and a gold medal, offered in Philadelphia for the best original tragedy. Several of our most eminent writers were competitors for the prize, awarded to Mrs. Hentz by a committee of distinguished literary gentlemen. She has also written two other tragedies, "Lamorah, or the Western Wild," which was acted at Cincinnati, and "Constance of Werdenberg;" both of these are still unpublished. Many of her minor poems show great sweetness and facility, as well as warmth and earnestness. Indeed poetry seems to be the natural language of her heart, when stirred by emotions or affections.
Mrs. Hentz is most widely known by her popular prose tales and novellettes, which have appeared in different American periodicals. "Aunt Patty's Scrap Bag" and "The Mob Cap," which obtained a prize of two hundred dollars, have been almost universally read. Some of her other stories are, "Aunt Mercy," "The Blind Girl," "The Pedlar," "The Village Anthem," and a novel, in one volume, called "Lovell's Folly."
As an instructress, she has been eminently successful, especially in that most important qualification, the power of gaining the affections and confidence of those under her care, and of obtaining a personal influence over them, which remains and acts upon them for good, long after they are withdrawn from her presence. Many a young man, as well as woman, who has been thrown into her society, will look back upon his intercourse with her as a time when his mind received an impulse towards the noble and elevated. Which affected his whole future life.
In social intercourse, Mrs. Hentz is easy and dignified. Her appearance is exceedingly prepossessing, and her conversational powers are fine.