Rebecca S. Nichols

Rebecca Shepard Reed was born in Greenwich, New Jersey,[2] October 28, 1819.[3] While she was yet a child, her father, E. B. Reed, a physician, removed with his family to the West.[4]

While residing at Louisville, in the year 1838, she married Willard Nichols, a printer by trade,[5] whom she accompanied to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1840, where Mr. Nichols embarked in the publication of a daily news and miscellaneous paper, in the editing of which, Mrs. Nichols assisted her husband. In 1841, Mr. Nichols and wife left removed to Cincinnati, where they continued to reside most of the time until 1851. This was a period of considerable literary activity in that region, which eventuated in the bringing out of some of the best writers the West has ever produced. Cotemporary with these, Mrs. Nichols became popular.[4]

Mrs. Nichols's earliest poems were published in the Louisville News-Letter, and Louisville Journal, over the signature of "Ellen". In 1844, she published a small volume entitled Berenice, or the Curse of Minna, and other Poems. The principal poem in this volume was a girl-tragedy. Several of the minor pieces were of merit. Only a small edition of this book was printed.[4]

In 1846, Mrs. Nichols conducted a literary periodical in Cincinnati, called The Guest, which became quite popular, and in which she published many of her poetical compositions of that period. She was also a contributor to Graham's Magazine, The Knickerbocker, and other Eastern periodicals. Early in her Cincinnati career, Mrs. Nichols contributed to the Cincinnati Herald, conducted by Gamaliel Bailey, a series of papers under the nom de plume of "Kate Cleaveland".[4] Critics and amateur literateurs tried to discover who this new author, a bright star, was. Eventually, it became known that the author was Mrs. Nichols.[4]

Rebecca S. Nichols (1851)

In 1851, under the patronage of Nicholas Longworth, a large volume of Mrs. Nichols's later poems were published under the title of Songs of the Heart and of the Hearth-Stone, from the press of Thomas, Cowperthwaite & Co., Philadelphia, and J. F. Desilver, Cincinnati. Such was the established popularity of the author at this time, that the publishers of the Cincinnati Commercial, M. D. Potter & Co., entered into an arrangement with Mrs. Nichols, to pay a liberal price for an original poem for each week, if she chose to write so often, which arrangement was continued for some time. A collection of these and other later poems, with a selection from her previous publications, would furnish material for a new volume, which would add largely to the reputation of the author.[4]

Among her noted poems which were widely circulated in book collections and in newspaperes may be mentioned "Stanzas by Moonlight", "The Minstrel's Last Song", "The Farewell of the Soul to the Body", "The Philosopher Toad", "Indian Summer", and "The Bonnie Brown Bird in the Mulberry Tree". Many of her poems were set to music and were popular among singers.[3]

Mrs. Nichols dealt with difficulties all of her life including the untimely death of children, and the fluctuations of business. Of seven children, only two survived to adulthood,[4] Mrs. Isabel Adams and W. C. Nichols.[3]

In her later years, Mrs. Nichols lived an active life and in 1900, took a trip to Chicago. A few months before her death, her health failed perceptibly.[5] She died in Indianapolis, June 21 1903,[5] of old age.[3]

• Berenice, or the Curse of Minna, and other Poems, 1844
• Songs of the Heart and of the Hearth-Stone, 1851

• Works by or about Rebecca S. Nichols at Internet Archive