Nathan C. Brooks

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Nathan Covington Brooks
)
Nathan Covington Brooks
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeGreen Mount Cemetery
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materSt. John's College (MA)
Occupations
  • Educator
  • historian
  • poet
Spouses
Mary Elizabeth Gobright
​
​
(m. 1826)​
Christiana Octavia Crump
​
​
(m. 1867)​
Children11
Signature

Nathan Covington Brooks (August 12, 1809 – October 6, 1898) was an American educator, historian, and poet. Born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.

Biography

Nathan Covington Brooks, the youngest son of John and Mary Brooks, was born in West Nottingham,

Franklin Academy, located in Reisterstown, Maryland. After three years, Brooks resigned to become principal of the Brookeville Academy in Montgomery County, Maryland.[3] However, in 1836, he resigned from the academy because the school was unable to pay his salary.[4]

In 1839, Brooks was unanimously selected out of a pool of 45 candidates to be the first principal of the new male high school in Baltimore—later renamed the

LL.D. from Emory College in Oxford, Georgia in 1859.[3] He served as president of the Baltimore Female College until it was closed in 1890.[5]

Brooks was married twice and fathered 11 children. He was wed to Mary Elizabeth Gobright on May 8, 1826, and later married Christiana Octavia Crump on June 26, 1867.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6] He was buried in the family lot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.[7]

The American Museum

In 1838, Brooks purchased

Summer Lincoln Fairfield's The North American Quarterly and moved the publication from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Brooks partnered with Dr. Joseph E. Snodgrass, a Baltimore physician, to transform the publication into The American Museum of Science, Literature and the Arts. The magazine mainly functioned as a literary publication, featuring literary criticism as well as poetry and short stories.[8]

Brooks, who was a friend of the famed poet

A Predicament" (published as "The Scythe of Time"), and "The Haunted Palace" were all originally published in Brooks' magazine.[9] Nevertheless, the magazine was short lived. Only two volumes of the magazine were published and it ceased to exist after 1839.[8]

Literary works

Throughout his career as an educator, Brooks contributed poetry and prose writings to various literary magazines. Among the literary magazines that Brooks submitted works to, were

New York Mirror, and the Southern Literary Messenger. Brooks also wrote several anthologies of poetry, including Scriptural Anthology, which was published in 1837 and The Literary Amaranth, which was published in 1840.[3] Poe wrote an ambivalent review of Brooks' Scriptural Anthology, which appeared in Graham's Magazine in December 1841. In his review, Poe wrote, "among many inferior compositions of length, there were several shorter pieces of great merit;—for example 'Shelley's Obsequies' and 'The Nicthanthes'."[10] Poe was also critical of Brooks' comic works, while praising his more serious prose.[10]

In addition to his poetry and prose, Brooks authored several textbooks, which focused mainly on classical literature, and a few popular history texts. These included First Lessons in Latin, published in 1845, First Lessons in Greek, published in 1846, A Complete History Of The Mexican War, published in 1849, and The History of the Church. Brooks also translated and published several editions of the works of Ovid, Caesar, and Virgil.[11]

References

  1. ^ Johnston, George, ed. (1887). The Poets and Poetry of Cecil county, Maryland. Elkton, MD: George Johnston. p. 118. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  2. ^ a b "Nathan Covington Brooks". E.A. Poe Society. 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  3. ^ a b c d Johnston, George, ed. (1887). The Poets and Poetry of Cecil county, Maryland. Elkton, MD: George Johnston. p. 119. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  4. ^ "The Brookeville Academy". The Town of Brookeville, Maryland. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  5. ^ a b Steiner, Bernard C. (1894). History of Education in Maryland. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 269.
  6. ^ "Obituary Notes". New York Times. 1898-10-07. p. 7.
  7. Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  8. ^ a b "The American Museum". E.A. Poe Society. 2000-04-21. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  9. ^ "Poe's writings in The American Museum". E.A. Poe Society. 2000-04-21. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  10. ^ a b Poe, Edgar Allan (December 1841). "A Chapter on Autography". Graham's Magazine: 279. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  11. ^ Morford, Mark (December 1982 – January 1983). "Early American School Editions of Ovid". The Classical Journal. 78 (2). The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc: 152–3.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nathan C. Brooks.
Academic offices
Preceded by
New position
Principal of Baltimore City College

1839–1849 		Succeeded by
Rev. Dr.
Francis G. Waters
Preceded by
New position
President
of Baltimore Female College
1849–1890 		Succeeded by
Position abolished after dissolution of college

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathan_C._Brooks&oldid=1214312159"