Eliza Jane McKissack explained

Eliza Jane McKissack (née Eliza Jones Aykroyd 11 December 1828, in New Bern, North Carolina[1] – 15 January 1900, in Nashville, Tennessee) was a music teacher who, in 1890, became the founding head of music at the University of North Texas College of Music, then called Normal Conservatory of Music,[2] [3] part of Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute, which was founded in 1890 as a private institution. The College of Music, today, is a comprehensive school with the largest enrollment of any institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.[4] It is the oldest (and first) in the world offering a degree in jazz studies. Since the 1940s, the College of Music has been among the largest in the country.[5]

McKissack's qualifications

McKissack, from Nashville, was highly recommended for the college position – as pianist and vocalist – by Bishop Charles Quintard of Tennessee, U.S. Senator Edward C. Walthall of Grenada, Mississippi, and Orville Brewer of Chicago. She had received her musical training in Boston and New York.[6]

McKissack remained at the college for two academic years: 1890–1891 and 1891–1892. Three years after leaving Denton, records show that McKissack studied at the New England Conservatory in the academic year 1895–1896. While there, she studied piano with Reinhold Faelten (1856–1949) and took courses in Hand Culture and Sight Playing. At that time, her permanent address was listed as Oxford, Mississippi.[7] Her Will (probated in Davidson County, Tennessee), provides two address: 1897 – Boscobel College, Nashville; January 1899 – Oxford, Mississippi.

Texas Normal College Conservatory of Music

Classes at Texas Normal College first commenced Tuesday, September 16, 1890.

Teachers at the Conservatory

The 1890 catalog listed piano, organ, and voice, all offered through private lessons.

The college, during its first three years, faced a difficult economy, which included the Panic of 1893. By 1893, not one faculty member from the original group remained.

First music students of Texas Normal College

Six music students were awarded medals at the college's first commencement exercises on June 18, 1991:[9]

Family

Eliza Jane McKissack was born in New York to James P. (1810–1835[10]) and Elizabeth Aykroyd, née Bettner (d. Mar. 12, 1869).[11] James and Elizabeth were married on July 12, 1824, in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina.[12] [13] Elizabeth, Eliza's mother, was a music teacher in Nashville.[14]

In practically every North Carolina village where there was an academy there was also a music teacher, an art teacher, and sometimes a dancing teacher. In some of these towns, such as New Bern, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Wilmington, there were music teachers independent of academy patronage. In 1823 James Aykroyd, then of New Bern, "respectfully informed the citizens of Hillsboro and its vicinity that he intended giving lessons in music there during the summer months." His terms were "for the Piano, twelve dollars a quarter, for lessons every other week; and three dollars for vocal music, two lessons every other week."[15] [16]

On August 10, 1854, in Pulaski, Tennessee, Eliza married Alexander Cogle McKissack (b. 30 April 1831 Roxboro, NC; d. 26 Sept 1898, Memphis, TN).[17] [18] [19] Alexander was an 1852 alumnus of Yale College. He died near Memphis at the home of his sister (during a visit), Jessie McKissack Peters of Van Dorn and Spring Hill repute.[20] [21] [22] Alexander McKissack, a native of Pulaski, Tennessee, moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1856 with his wife, Eliza. Except for his tenure in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he resided on his plantation, 4 miles north of Holly Springs, until his death.

Alexander and Eliza had only one child, a daughter, who died early.

Eliza Jane McKissack died January 15, 1900, Nashville, Tennessee. The funeral service was held at Christ Church and the burial was at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Christ Church Parish Baptism Records, New Bern, North Carolina . 2010-11-22 . 2012-05-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120503095730/http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/craven/churches/chrchurbapts.txt . live .
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=uEqJXwQHe6kC&pg=PA21 James Lloyd Rogers (1926–2006), The Story of North Texas, University of North Texas Press
  3. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eep08 Pilot Point Post Mirror
  4. HEADS Data – Special Report, 2009–10, National Association of Schools of Music.
    MusicEnrollment
    at NorthTexas
    2006-071,649
    2007-081,659
    2008-091,608
    2009-101,635
  5. https://books.google.com/books?id=uEqJXwQHe6kC&pg=PA21 James Lloyd Rogers (1926–2006), The Story of North Texas, University of North Texas Press
  6. Web site: "Texas Schools and Churches", The Weekly Gazette: Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 3, col. 3 (bottom), September 4, 1890 . 3 . 2010-11-08 . 2012-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121013141241/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86064205/1890-09-04/ed-1/seq-3/;words=music+Music+Kissack+Mc+musical . live .
  7. Library Archives, New England Conservatory of Music
  8. https://archive.org/stream/doctorsofphiloso00yalerich/doctorsofphiloso00yalerich_djvu.txt Doctors of philosophy of Yale University, with the titles of their dissertations, 1861–1915, published by Yale University (April 1916)
  9. Texas Normal College Exercises, The Dallas Morning News, June 19, 1891
  10. Web site: List of Burials (James Aykroyd), Tri-Weekly Banner (Nashville), July 8, 1835 . November 19, 2010 . September 27, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927155206/http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/1835.htm#july_3_8 . dead .
  11. Elizabeth's brother, James S. Bettner (d. testate, 1858, Westchester County, New York), acquired a patent of land in Kendall County, Texas, the survey for which bears his name
  12. http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/craven/churches/chrchurmarrs.txt Parish Register Marriage Entries:
  13. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncdupltp/ncmarriage/ncmarriagerecords1824.htm North Carolina Marriage Records 1799–1867, North Carolina State Archives
  14. Web site: 1860 US Census, Davidson County, Tennessee, pg. 402b, line 40, house number 971 . 2021-10-11 . 2021-04-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210418204815/http://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/tn/davidson/1860/indx-a.txt . live .
  15. [Hillsborough Recorder]
  16. [Guion Griffis Johnson]
  17. https://books.google.com/books?id=QFgdAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA615 Obituary record of graduates of Yale University ... presented at the annual meeting of the alumni, pg. 615, Yale University (1900)
  18. Obituary: Alexander C. McKissack The Memphis Appeal, September 29, 1898, 2:4
  19. The Last Roll Call: Capt. A. C. McKissack, Confederate Veteran, No. 1, Vol. 7, pg 33 (January 1899)
  20. https://books.google.com/books?id=RZQgn6eoRVMC&pg=PA164 Hubert Horton McAlexander, Strawberry Plains Audubon Center: Four Centuries of Mississippi Landscape
  21. https://books.google.com/books?id=3CGsmBhZr3cC&pg=PA140 Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr. (1930–), Yale's Confederates: a biographical dictionary
  22. https://books.google.com/books?id=gD04AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93 Catalogue of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, (1910)
  23. Death Notice, Nashville Banner, Jan. 16, 1900 (name is misspelled: "McKissick")

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