1855-56 SUSAN TIPTON COX. 118pp MSs of Unpublished Poetry by Influential Methodist Educator.

A superbly preserved, unpublished, and entirely unresearched 118pp volume of generally high-quality lines by early female Methodist educator, Susan Tipton Cox. She was the sister of Rev. Alexander Findley Cox, prominent Methodist minister from Washington County, Virginia. Her life was given entirely as a teacher at various Methodist [South] female seminaries, never marrying, but a singular voice in a generation of young Methodist women, an active missionary advocate, etc., and, if we perceive correctly here, perhaps an emerging voice against slavery in the South.

The present was from her time teaching at the Holston Conference Female Seminary, just outside Asheville, North Carolina [1855-1856]. She was later, after the Civil War, at Asheville Female Seminary, etc.,

The works are of deeply pietistic tone and of significant interest in terms of female education, pre-Civil War and Southern Methodism, North Carolina history, mid-19^th century hymnody and devotional literature, etc.,

With regard to slavery specifically, she is a product of her time, split in two it seems. On the one hand she lauds two of the most prominent slave owners in the county. Yet, when she dreams of a future of faithfulness for her just-born nephew, she imagines him preaching liberty, which seems meant in its double-sense, to “Afric’s dusky race.”

Worthy of preservation and research.

1. Acrostic on “Emma S Smith
2. Acrostic on “Kate A Smith”
3. Acrostic on the death of an infant, “Susannah Fore”
4. To Julia Davis
5. Lines inscribed to Joe Wright
6. Acrostic on the Death of “Susannah Fore”
7. To Melville [Apparently her brother]
8. Twilight Thoughts
9. To Charlie C. Cummings
10. Lines on the Death of Miss Pollie Parrott, a Native of Central America, Asheville, North Carolina, 1856. An absolutely charming poem on the death of a beloved Parrott, apparently at the school our authoress is connected to.
11. To Mollie A.
12. The Methodist Sewing Society of Asheville, North Carolina
13. To a Gentleman who sent me a Bottle of Perfume called Prairie
14. The College Gem
15. Lines to Miss ________ the Last of her Family.
16. Lines Written on Seeing the Portrait of Mrs. N. W. Woodfin. This perhaps gives us some sense of our authoress. The subject of the painting was Mrs. Nicholas W. Woodfin of Buncombe County, North Carolina. Nicholas and his wife were the largest slave owners in the county. No mention is made of slavery in the lines.
17. Lines on the Death of Mr. Kinkead who Died away from Home and was Buried at Edgefield, South Carolina.
18. Lines Suggested by the Reinterment of Mrs S. M. Wells, Buried near Asheville, North Carolina, February 23’d, 1856.
19. Lines Suggested y the Death of Mrs. Bates – Memento Mori.
20. Lines to a Bereaved Mother, Addressed to A. V. C.
21. Lines for Miss Beck’s Album
22. Lines for Alice’s Album
23. To Alice
24. Forget Me Not
25. To F. H. Cox
26. On Seeing a Picture of Little Red Riding Hood
27. to Anna
28. Asheville
29. Speak Low to Us Blest Savior
30. To Mary and Lizzie
31. To My Pupils
32. Sabbath Bells
33. To Rose
34. Lines to Mollie
35. A Contented Mind is a Continual Feast
36. To Adelia
37. Hope on. Hope ever.
38. Meeting
39. The Past
40. To Emma
41. Lines to Sarah
42. Lines to Perry Atlee Cox [b.1854, son of Rev. Alexander Findley Cox [Methodist] of Washington Co. Virginia]. She prays, “And there ‘mid Afric’s dusky race | I’d have thee tell of Jesus’ love | Perennial free and boundless grace | Which call them to a home above” etc.
43. To. Mrs. M. A. W.
44. To Miss M. K. Vance
45. Weep for Lillie’s Filly [a horse who hanged itself]
46. On the death of Mary Nabb’s Cow
47. The Cross – Suggested by a Conversation with a Merchant on Wearing the Cross on Necklaces, Breastpins, etc.
48. Lines Suggested by a Ride to Swananoa [ Swannanoa ].
49. Lines on the Death of Canaro Rufus Campbell, Son of Rev. Coleman Campbell [Methodist. Young Canaro died at 3 years old]
50. To Eliza Nabb, A Pupil from California
51. Do they Miss Me at Home
52. Parting of School Girls
53. To Mary
54. To Ginnie
55. Lines to Mrs. Cummings Suggested by Reading her Album
56. Speak Gently
57. To Ginnie
58. To Julia
59. To Mattie
60. To Mag
61. Vacation [Mentions bidding adieu to College]
62. Asheville Graveyard
63. In Memoriam of W. B. Raggin A.M.
64. Lines to Eddie E. R. [son of the previous]
65. Shall Patton Forgotten Be? This would be James W. Patton, one of the most influential citizens in Buncombe County, North Carolina and the second largest slave holder, behind N. W. Woodfin above.
66. Lines to a Stranger from Florida whom I met in the street & who with a friendly air said How do you do Miss Susan.
67. To Nora
68. To Ella
69. To Lillie
70. To Nora
71. Life
72. To Josephine
73. New Years Day
74. To Hannah Moore Vance [whose story is quite well-documented now because of the public sale of her nanny who was a slave, etc.]
75. To Kate
76. In Memoriam of H. S. C.

Disbound, a handful of poems with very faded sepia ink, though legible with care.