Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1955 A Biographical and Critical Study of Ruth McEnery Stuart. Mary Frances Fletcher Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Fletcher, Mary Frances, "A Biographical and Critical Study of Ruth McEnery Stuart." (1955). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 8146. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/8146 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A BIOGRAPHICAL AU6 CRITICAL SA'uY C? KUTH VcZULHY STUART A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty cf the Louisiana State University and ^ricultural and mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the decree cf Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by ~ury Frances Aietcher llm A., The University cf Virginia, ieoc June, 1956 UMI Number: DP69524 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI DP69524 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code uest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 The author wishes to express her gratitude “to Dr. Tuoiras A. Hirby, to v;hon she owes a debt she could never repay. She is deeply indebted to Dr, C. A. Koladay, her adviser, Dr. II, II, Caffee, and Dr- Donald Stanford. She appreciates the generous help of Dr. Ariin Turner and Dr. Louis Sinpson Colonel J. Fair Hardin suggested the subject cf the research. The initial worR was done at the University of Virginia. Dr. Garland Taylor nade possible her use cf the Tulane Stuart Colie tion. Dr. and Its. Zaward S. Hathaway assisted her with her research in Tew Orleans and directed her in inny useful wa^rs. Both Hr. T. T. I clhiilan of tne L. 3. U. Library and Hiss Bssae L. Culver of the Loui gjg r* Li br^T\r c Ccemission helped her get the booHs for her research. A great deal of the izaterial cane frcn the nenories cf Hiss oaruh Stirling -IcEnery, Irs. Judith Ryans Douglas, Hrs. C. C. Spragins, Hr. Grit Stuart, Hr. H. C. Stuart, It s . Chari ear. Hess .1 Ilians, I t s . R. S. Hecat, It s . Ernest Lee Jane he, Its. H. Baungarten, Professor and !'rs, John Ten- aail, Hiss Hay C. Tobies, It. Austin Reese, nr. Carlton -Ang, ana Hr. C. P. Convillion. C-thers v;ho have lent The author letters ana nave given her inforna— S- Hcse s , I-Ts . Jceila 3. /ceour, __T3. 3:. T. He It, H_r- HurrelL C. Tellran of tie Avoyelles Parish Library, H_r. Hurra - Hcbertscn, !Lrs. 0. 3. Cld, llrs. Reynette 3• Rhirpsr, Hiss Rcsa HaLlace. Presiceni Ralph L. Hep3 pave tee autnor the opportunity to complete w Her ncrh at L- 5 . 1 . Lee is praterUL tc ein, ner family, and everyone vrho has helned and enccura^ed Her* TJ±BLE OF CC17TEHTS iv ABSTRACT The purpose of the author in undertaking the research was to make a biographical ana critical study of Ruth LcLnery Stuart to determine whether she deserved the obscurity tine has brought her and, if she did V not, to help secure a revival of interest in her and her best work. r The author’s procedure was to gain information from books, docu­ ments, papers, periodicals, interviews. She spent cany weeks in New Orleans studying the material in the Tulane Stuart Collections and in interviewing, relatives and friends of It s . Stuart. She visited : arks- 4 AX viile, hcnree, Shreveport, and several places in Arkansas to interview other friends and connections of Mrs. Stuart. She secured help from books and documents in the Louisiana library Commission, the L. 3. M. Library, the University of Virginia Library, the Northampton Mil ram.-, the New York Public Library, the Surrogate Court cf New York, the nvoyalles Parish Courthouse, the Ouachita Parish Courthouse, the Hempstead County Courthouse. She wrote to many people who had itnown .rs . Stuart or her family. The research proved tnat from the time of the publication cf Irs. Stuart’s first stories in 1SS8 until her aeath in 1917 she was one of the cost, popular ana well—levee ..omen ever to live in the United States. Per a period cf t.-.eaty-nine years sne was in public' favor both as a creative v;riter and as a reader. 3ccm after her death in 1917 her name bee are ob­ scured. She, more than ::_nny cf her contemporaries, suffered from tme re— j * action against the semti:mmt^ra in the y^ars fcilcwing ..c«rlc far I. v Upon the evidence or Mrs. Stuart*s life and works, the biographer concluded that 2It s • Stuart had soraething of genius in her personality and that, as Joel Chandler Harris pointed out, she cane nearer the heart of the Negro than any of her contemporaries. People loved her stories, her poems, her interpretations of her work. New editions of books such as A Golden Heading ana Other Pales, Sonny, Moriah*s Mourning, Plantation Songs, Daddy Do—Funny*s Hisdom Jingles would find readers today. Antho­ logists should include in their books sore of her poems and Negro stories. vi CHAPTER I BACKGROUNDS Ruth UcEnery Stuart was an American writer who was well known throughout the United States from the time of the publication of her first story in 1888 until her death in 1917. She w^s representative of the genteel tradition and was one of the interpreters of life in the South. Her ancestors— the Rouths, the Stirlings, and the I'cEnerys— were among the most distinguished families of the lower Mississippi valley. The Rouths were from Wales and possessed the characteristics of the Celts, including the Celtic flair for letters. For centuries their has been associated with Oxford University, England, one of the family having been president of Magdalene College. Another, who held a chair of literature in the university, cade an interlinear translation of Virgil, a volume still in use. “The Reminiscences of The Routh Family," written about 1898 by Mrs. Mary lane Pope Robertson, widow of Colonel Edward 7ihite Robertson, tells the story of the family. The ones who came to America were two brothers and a sister. After reaching Virginia, they moved westward to Mississippi. Jeremiah, Job, and Mary Routh came to Natchez, Mississippi, then Walnut Hills, from Virginia about the year. 1776. They moved all their household effects, etc., on flat boats.... Job, being more of a money-making turn, bought his brother*s interests and accumulated a large fortune. Uncle Job was noted in his family for thrift and saving almost to penuriousness. Upon one occasion it is told by an eye witness that he lost a penny somewhere in his yard. A search was 1 cxzsediately instituted; every child turned out to 2 search; and the yard was diligently swept and the joy was great when it was found.• • • Hr. Job Routh reared a large family, all of whom were prominent and wealthy. A granddaughter of Job Routh was Sarah Ann Dorsey, a cultured person whose educational advantages were unusual. She studied ancient and m o d e m languages, music, and art and even traveled in Europe. On her return she began to write sentimental novels. Her literary work, however, did not interfere with her duties in her home; she had a repu­ tation as a charming hostess. During the Y/ar Between the States, when her home was burned, she fled to Texas to serve as a nurse in a Confed- v v ‘ crate hospital. After 1875, the year of her husband*s death, she made her home at Beauvoir, her estate near Biloxi, Mississippi. There she continued her writing and aided Jefferson Davis in the preparation of his booh The Rise and Fail of the Confederate Government. Because she felt a strong admiration for Mr. Davis, she bequeathed to him Beauvoir and her three plantations. Although her family shared her sympathy for f him, they felt indignant concerning her bequest, for the war had im­ poverished them. Besides Mrs. Dorsey, another important descendant of Job Routh was his great granddaughter, the wife of Murphy J. Foster, Governor^of Louisiana from 1892—1900.and later United States senator. "The Renini sconce8 of the Routh Family," a family document in the possession of Miss Sarah Stirling McKnery, New Orleans. 3 o Jeremiah Routh, the brother of Job South, moved from Natchez to a plantation on Red Hiver. He and his wife, Mary Miller, had a large family, whom they did not live to rear. The children were taken by their Uncle Job and Aunt Nary South, who had married Isaac Johnson, a young man sent over to Natchez by a mercantile firm in Liverpool, England. One of the girls, Mary South, who became the grandmother of Routh LIcEnery Stuart, found in her auntvs home the most pleasant influences.