University of Virginia Library

Index and Author Guide to the Family Companion (1841-43)
by
Robert A. Rees and Marjorie Griffin

In the twenty-five year period between 1825 and 1850 the number of magazines and journals in the United States increased from one hundred to six hundred. So great was the interest in magazines that the Illinois Monthly Magazine called this period the "golden age of periodicals."[1] But it was golden only if one looked at numbers; most magazines survived between six months and two years.[2] The New York Mirror described the reasons for the ephemeral existence of most periodicals:

This is an accurate, if general, description of the Family Companion and Ladies' Mirror, published in Macon, Georgia, between October 15, 1841, and February 15, 1843. Spurred by the challenge for the South to publish magazines competitive with those of the North, Benjamin F. Griffin and his wife, Sarah Lawrence Griffin, began their new magazine with solid planning and high hopes. Southern praise of the venture was as high as expected and the following from the Northern Brother Jonathan suggests the Companion enjoyed more than a regional reputation: "It appears to be gaining favor on all hands, East, West, North and South, and better still, to deserve it. It is beautifully printed — contains a very large amount of reading matter, is wholly original, and among its regular contributors, are some of the best living writers."[4]

The most important of the "best living writers" spoken of by the Brother Jonathan were William Gilmore Simms and John Neal, both of whom helped guide the journal and contributed heavily to it.[5] Other contributors

whose works regularly appeared in anthologies of the period or who are noted by literary historians were: William A. Caruthers, Emma C. Embury, Caroline Lee Hentz, George Frederick Holmes, Mirabeau Lamar, Mary E. Lee, Caroline Orne, Frances Osgood, Albert Pike, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, William Tappan Thompson, and Samuel Woodworth.

In his book on Early Georgia Magazines, Bertram Flanders makes the following estimate: "The Family Companion stands at the very top of Georgia ante-bellum monthlies, sharing honors with the Magnolia (Savannah) and the Orion (Penfield). Mrs. Sarah Lawrence Griffin, though not the best judge in the world of reading matter, in some way managed to get contributions that were among the best to be found in Southern periodicals."[6]

A problem facing scholars wishing to examine the Companion is that its index, like others of the period, is by title only, is inaccurate, and is incomplete. The index following this introduction is expanded beyond mere rearrangement of the original by study of internal evidence and by study of letters from many of the Companion contributors to the Griffins. Some eighty of these letters are in the hands of descendants of the Griffins, and they clearly establish authorship of a number of works which, in the magazine, are anonymous or pseudonymous.

The correspondence also makes clear that many of the anonymous items were supplied by Mrs. Griffin and by John Neal. We have refrained from any attribution based on assumption or analysis of style, and have supplied names only where the question seems beyond dispute. There are indirect identities such as "By the author of 'The Partisan,'" which leads unmistakably to William Gilmore Simms; in such a case the author's name is given here in brackets because it did not actually appear in the magazine. Other attributions were achieved in a more roundabout fashion but are equally valid. For instance, many items in the Companion are identified as "By the Author of 'The Ins and the Outs,'" a sketch appearing in the first issue of the Companion and identified in John Neal's letters as his own. The first of the "Poetry of Flowers" series is anonymous, but five others are credited to Clifton; on internal evidence we have credited the first one to Clifton also. "Clifton" and "Charles Clifton" are probably the same individual but evidence is lacking and we have listed the names separately. We have included in the author list such pseudonyms as "Arion," "Old File," "Somers," and others, rather than have a separate listing.

Under "Anonymous" the titles are arranged alphabetically; works of known authors and the pseudonymous authors, however, appear chronologically.

Because many of the authors are somewhat obscure and the titles are not always descriptive, we have added the terms article, fiction, and poem in square brackets; we have used the term sketch as a catch-all for whatever did not fit into the first three categories. Where the title provides a good indication, no category has been added.

Pagination of the original volumes includes duplications and skips. We have given the numbers shown on the pages involved, with the indication "includes pagination error." In these cases, the reader must be alert for a break in sequence.

Original spelling has not been changed. Punctuation has been normalized in a few cases to avoid distraction of the modern reader's eye. When a title in the original appears in all capital letters, it is impossible to know if the author or editor would have capitalized prepositions; in such a case we tend to modern usage. Irregularities such as "NO. I" in one issue and "No. 2" in the next have been altered to conform to the first appearance.

In order to present a compact index readily consulted by scholars interested in magazine publication of the early 1840's, we have not introduced notes detailing exactly how each attribution was made. In several cases it is by internal evidence available to anyone who studies the magazine; in some cases it is available only in the as-yet-unpublished Griffin letters.

Should a scholar in the field find an item of particular interest, the present authors would be happy to correspond on the subject.

Index and Author Guide

• Anonymous
• Christmas in Carolina: As It Once Was: Or the Tale of a Day [sketch], II (September, 1842), 339-346
• The Comparative Effects of Classic Mythology and Christianity upon Literature [article], I (January, 1842), 244-245
• Don't Ruin the Poor Man's Character [sketch], I (March, 1842), 371-373
• Extracts from "John Smith": Humbug [poem], II (August, 1842), 273-274 [includes pagination error]; Preachers and Lawyers [poem], II (September, 1842), 338; Human Life [poem], II (September, 1842), 346; Childhood [poem], III (December, 1842), 63
• Homespun Yarns: Number I, Polly Peablossom's Wedding [fiction], II (August, 1842), 263-266; Number II, The "Experience" of the Blacksmith of the Mountain Pass [fiction], II (September, 1842), 332-335; Number III, The Fortune-Hunter's Misadventure [fiction], III (December, 1842), 23-32; Number IV, Cornelius Corntassel's First "Affair of Honor" [fiction], III (January, 1843), 110-120
• The Hundred Dollar Cloke [fiction], II (June, 1842), 157-160
• Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged [sketch], II (April, 1842), 57-59
• Lay of the Imprisoned Knight. Translated from the German of Goethe [poem], II (September, 1842), 370
• Lines Written on the Blank Leaf of a Lady's Bible [poem], II (July, 1842), 222
• Lines Written When Sailing in a Boat at Sea [poem], II (May, 1842), 108
• Mr. Merritt and His Family, or Lending a Name [sketch], III (February, 1843), 191-195

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• Party Spirit: A Tale of the South [fiction]. By the Author of "The Orphan," "The Widow Won," &c., III (December, 1842, January, February, 1843), 34-39, 81-88, [137]-147.
• Patrick Henry Hedgepeth: The Young Man on his First Legs [fiction], III (January, 1843), 90-100
• Rambling Reflections: From the Journal of a Dyspeptic Bachelor [sketch], I (March, 1842), 361-363
• Sketches of American Literature: No. 1, N. P. Willis, II (July, 1842), 230-233; No. 2, John Neal, II (September, 1842), 366-369 [probably both by John Neal]
• Vaudrey: A Tale of the Tierra de Guerra, I (October, November, December, 1841), 48-51, 85-91, 135-142
• The Wedding Ring [poem], I (December, 1841), 134
• Arion
• Dreams [poem], II (September, 1842), [326]
• B.
• Timothy Teasewell. The Everlasting Story Teller [fiction], III (February, 1843), 186-191
• Barnard
• When We Were Children Both [poem], II (June, 1842), 142
• [Caruthers, William A.]
• Excerpts from the Portfolio of an Old Novelist [article], II (April, May, June, 1842), 56-57, 79-80, 173
• Carter, Mrs. E.
• Lines on a Picture [poem], II (September, 1842), 314
• Catlin, S. W.
• Ye Hast'ning Winds [poem], I (March, 1841), 343
• Fireside Musings—The Cricket [poem] II (April, 1842), 18
• Charlton, (Hon.) R. M.
• The Shadows of the Past [poem], I (November, 1841), 101
• Chittenden, D. A.
• A Christmas Gift [poem], II (May, 1842), 116
• Song [poem], II (July, 1842), 203
• Clifton [see also Charles Clifton]
• A Fireside Tale, I (November, 1841), 102-103
• Kate Marshall, A Christmas Tale, I (January, 1842), 210-213
• Poetry of Flowers [articles with quoted poems], (January, February, March, 1842), 245-247, 312-316, 375-378; II (April, May, August, 1842), 59-61, 117-119, 297-299
• The Lottery Ticket. A Story of Domestic Life, I (March, 1842), 327-337
• Clifton, Charles
• The Vision of Nephistophiles Newfgruggen [fiction], III (January, 1843), 130-132
• Colesworthy, D. C.
• Modesty [poem], III (January, 1843), 106
• Go Not Back My Brother [poem], III (January, 1843), 129
• Curtis, Thomas (D. D.)
• The Poetry of the Bible [article], I (October, November, December, 1841, February, March, 1842). 2-9, 65-72, 176-185, 257-264, 323-326; II (May, July, August, September, 1842), 105-108, 204-206, 257-262, 307-313; III (December, 1842), 9-16
• Dana, (Mrs.) Mary S. B.
• A Goose Story [poem], II (April, 1842), 45
• De Beauvais—see Maria J. McIntosh Darby, J.
• Education [article], I (October, 1841), 51-55
• Remarks on Elementary Instruction [article], I (November, 1841), 121-123
• Early Instruction, I (December, 1841), 186-188
• Ellet, (Mrs.) E. F.
• The Evening before the Wedding [fiction]. Translation from the German of Zschokke, I (November, 1841), 82-85
• Jacques Callot. A Tale of Art from the German [fiction], I (January, 1842), 233-239
• An Austrian Tradition [fiction], III (December, 1842), 53-56
• Ellison, William H.
• An Address Delivered before the Graduating Class of the Georgia Female College, II (August, 1842), 279-282
• Embury, (Mrs.) Emma C.
• The Governess [fiction], I (October, 1841), 30-34

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209




• Good Heartedness, or "Nobody's Enemy but His Own" [fiction], II (April, 1842), 51-55
• Eugenia
• Random Sketches of Early Life [fiction]. Chapter 1, III (January, 1843), 122-129
• Eugine
• [same title as above], Chapters 2-5, III (February, 1843), 167-177
• Edwards, J. C.
• The Vale of Naucoochee [poem], I (February, 1842), 279
• Griffin, Sarah Lawrence [probably many of the anonymous items are hers also, especially the didactic sketches]
• If That Were My Child [sketch], [anonymous here; identified in Neal letters], I (November, 1841), 97-101
• What Will People Say? [sketch], [by the Author of "If That Were My Child"], I (January, 1842), 205-209
• Cousin Betsey's Letters on Matters and Things [sketch], [anonymous here; identified by Bertram Flanders in Early Georgia Magazines], I (January, 1842), 215
• [Same title as above], Letter II, I (March, 1842), 373-375
• Sarah Curtis, Or the Morning after the Wedding [fiction], I (January, 1842), 240-242 [anonymous here; identified in Neal letters]
• Hamilton
• A Fragment [poem], III (January, 1843), 121
• The Georgians, Or Scenes at the Meriwether Springs [fiction], III (February, 1843), 177-186
• Henry, James Edward
• A Saturday Night's Stroll Through the Market [sketch], II (April, 1842), 30-33
• Hentz, (Mrs.) Caroline Lee
• On the Death of a Young Child, Who Perished in the Flames [poem], I (November, 1841), 104
• Address Written for the Lafayette Society at La Grange College [poem], III (February, 1843), 147-150
• Holmes, George Frederick [some of the items are identified only GFH]
• Outlines of an Essay on the Causes which Contributed to Produce the Peculiar Excellence of Ancient Literature [article], I (October, November, 1841), 56-59, 112-120
• L'Isole [anonymous here; identified in Neal letters] [fiction], I (October, 1841, February, 1842), 145-150, 272-278; II (May, July, August, 1842), 80-89, 234-240, 269-272 [includes pagination error]
• Song [poem], I (March, 1842), 337
• Evening Fancies, A Fragment [poem], I (March, 1842), 351-352
• Epigram, from Catullus [poem], [4-line original; 4-line translation], II (April, 1842), 39
• On the Death of a Beautiful Young Lady [poem], II (May, 1842), 95
• Papers on Folly, Fools, Etc. No. 1— Touchstone, Audrey, Sir Oliver Martext, William [article], III (January, 1843), 101-106
• Houser, (Rev.) William
• The Contented Mountaineer [poem], I (February, 1842), 295
• Howard, (Prof.) William G.
• A Polish Patriot, Etc. [biographical sketch including poem "Extract from a Polish Poetical Epistle," concerning Julian Ursin Niemcewicz], I (October, 1841), 47
• Stanzas [poem], I (December, 1841), 163
• Human Society: Its Constant and Successful Progress to Improvement [article], I (February, 1842), 295-298
• Sonnet [plus 7 lines of prose denying authorship of sonnet], I (March, 1842), 342
• The Cemeteries of New Orleans [article), II (May, 1842), 94-95
• Autumn Changes [poem], II (September, 1842), 326
• Fare Thee Well [poem], III (December, 1842), 33
• Religion [poem], III (January, 1843), 106
• Ida
• The Neglected Wife's Death Scene [poem], II (August, 1842), 268 [includes pagination error]
• Jackson, Henry R.
• My Mother [poem], I (March, 1842), 370
• Kate [poem], I (March, 1842), 373

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210




• My Father [poem], II (April, 1842), 33
• The Live Oak [poem], II (May, 1842), 100
• Haroun Alraschid [poem], II (July, 1842), 250
• Sad Hours There Are [poem], III (December, 1842), 69-70
• Song to Freedom [poem], III (January, 1843), 109
• Prayer [poem], III (February, 1843), 165-167
• Lamar, (Gen.) Mirabeau B.
• The Missionary' Hymn [poem], II (September, 1842), 346 [includes pagination error]
• Sally Riley [poem], III (December, 1842), 17-22
• Grieve Not for Me [poem], III (December, 1842), 52
• An Apology to a Lady, for Not Writing her a Song [poem], III (December, 1842), 62-63
• Lawrence, E.—See Sarah Lawrence Griffin
• Lee, (Miss) Mary E.
• The Leper of Capernaum, Or the Savior's Miracle [fiction], I (October, 1841), 25-29
• Evening Hymn [poem], I (October, 1841), 29
• A Song [poem], I (November, 1841), 76
• Forest Music [poem], I (December, 1841), 150
• The Fair Rosamond. A Sketch from English History, I (December, 1841, January 1842), 151-156, 201-205
• Sonnet, I (January, 1842), 213
• Sleeper, Arise and Call Upon Thy God [poem], I (January, 1842), 224
• Midnight Dec. 31 [poem], I (January, 1842), 239
• The Sunbeam. From La Martine [poem], I (February, 1842), 279
• Aspirations after Knowledge [poem], I (February, 1842), 290
• The Blind Organist [fiction], I (March, 1842), 343-351
• The Beautiful Bouquet [poem], II (April, 1842), 1
• My Garden Bower [poem], II (May, 1842), 89
• To . . . , 'May You Die Among Your Kindred.' [poem], II (May, 1842), 104
• Sabbath at Home [poem], II (June, 1842), 168
• Stanzas, II (August, 1842), 266
• Sonnet. 'And Pilate Said unto Them, Behold the Man!' II (September, 1842), 16
• The Royal Mourner [poem], III (January, 1842), 88-89
• 'Thy Will Be Done' [poem], III (February, 1843), 150
• Martin, (Mrs.) M.
• The Lake [poem], II (September, 1842), 369
• McIntosh, Maria J. [identity is established through McIntosh letters; story appears under pseudonym of Marie de Beauvais]
• Woman and Her Inconsistencies [fiction], II (May, June, August, 1842), 65-69, 193-203, 283-287; III (December, 1842), 64-69
• Mifflin, J. H.
• The Fountain [poem], II (April, 1842), 50
• Woman [poem], II (July, 1842), 215
• Sonnet. Written Upon Leaving Naples in 1837, II (August, 1842), 287
• Milward, (Mrs.) Maria G.
• The Florist's Daughter [fiction], I (February, 1842), 291-295; II (April, May, 1842), 40-44, 96-100
• M., M. G. [Maria G. Milward? Maria J. McIntosh? Mrs. M. Martin?]
• The Elopement [fiction], I (October, 1841), 36-43
• Reminiscences of a Mahogany Table [sketch], I (January, 1841), 216-218
• Neal, John [entries marked * are identified in this magazine as "by the author of The Ins and the Outs" and are otherwise anonymous.]
• The Ins and the Outs, Or the Last of the Bamboozled [fiction; anonymous here but identified by Neal letters], I (October, 1841), 13-23
• One Day in the History of the World [poem], I (October, 1841), 10-13
• The Countess of Beltokay [fiction], I (November, December, 1841, January, 1842), 91-95, 129-134, 193-199
• The Dying Husband to his Wife [poem], I (January, 1842), 214

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• *Sketches from Life [articles]: Mrs. Sarah Austin, I (January, 1842), 242-243; Mrs. Anne S. Stephens, I (February, 1842), 311-312; Mrs. Seba Smith, II (May, 1842), 101-105; Miss Hannah F. Gould, II (June, 1842), 166-168; Miss Eliza Leslie, II (September, 1842), 336-337
• Mary Bishop, Or the Transformation [fiction], I (February, 1842), 280-290
• Polsko Powstan [poem], I (March, 1842), 352
• The Drama [article, completely anonymous here; identified by Neal letters], II (April, 1842), 2-17
• *Andrew Burr, A Domestic Prose Tragedy in Five Acts, II (June, July, August, September, 1842), 174-179, 241-250, 288-296, 315-325
• *Eleemosynary Patriots [sketch], II (July, 1842), 207-215
• To a Friend, On the Birth of Her First Child [poem], II (August, 1842), 282
• The Marriage Ring [poem], III (December, 1842), 33
• Little Monsters [article], III (January, 1843), 107-109
• Old File, from an
• The Unwilling Bride. A Dream [poem], I (October, 1841), 24
• Anniversary Lyrics: No. I, I (November, 1841), 24; No. II, II (May, 1842), 78
• An Argument for an Intemperate Lover [poem], III (January, 1843), 100
• Orne, Caroline [variously given as Miss and Mrs. with and without the middle initial of F.]
• The Sleeping Youth, The Maiden and Cupid [poem], I (October, 1841), 35
• To R. P. [poem], I (October, 1841), 43
• Notes of Warning, Or the Young Warrior's Return [poem], I (January, 1842), 233.
• Adela Fleetwood [fiction], II (April, May 1842), 34-39, 70-77
• The Roses [poem], II (June, 1842), 150-152
• The Scheming Widow [fiction], II (July, 1842), 223-229
• Uncle Hodgkins and His Family [sketch], II (August, 1842), 275-278
• The Brother and Sister [fiction], III (February, 1843), 151-164
• Orne, (Mrs.) Catharine [misprint for above?]
• Cecelia Austin [fiction], I (March, 1842), 338-342
• Osgood, (Mrs.) Frances S.
• Song. "He Bade Me Be Happy" [poem], I (October, 1841), 43
• Anna. A Sketch [poem], I (November, 1841), 96
• To Little Cornelia [poem], I (January, 1841), 242
• From an Unpublished Play [poem], I (March, 1842), 363
• Patten, (Lt.) G. W.
• The Cloud and the Stream [poem], I (October, 1841), 29
• The Resemblance [poem], I (November, 1841), 82
• Love's Vagary [poem], I (February, 1842), 298
• Pike, Albert
• Stanzas Written For a Lady [poem], I (October, 1841), 29
• Lines to a Lady, On the Death of Her Mother [poem], I (November, 1841), 85
• Psyche
• A Thanksgiving Tale [fiction], III (December, 1842), 42-52
• Pierce, (Rev.) George F.
• The Bible [article], II (September, 1842), 345-346 [includes pagination error]
• Richards, W. C.
• Good Bye! [poem], I (November, 1841), 105
• The Exodus, Or the Passage of the Red Sea. Exodus XIV [poem], I (December, 1841), 143-144
• A Charade [poem], I (February, 1842), 264
• The Cottager [poem], I (February, 1842), 278
• God My Trust [poem], II (April, 1842), 29
• Rinaldo
• Lines [poem], II (August, 1842), 262.
• Lines, To M . . . [poem], II (July, 1842), 206
• Sigourney, (Mrs.) L. H.

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• The Tree of Love [poem], I (November, 1841), 104
• The Saintly Death [poem], III (December, 1842), 41
• Flowers [poem], III (January, 1843), 100
• [Simms, William Gilmore, identified in the magazine only as "by the author of . . ."]
• Heart Fancies: A Series of Sonnets [only one of series appears], I (October, 1841), 9; [entire series appears], I (January, 1842), 200-201
• Oakatibbe, Or the Choctaw Sampson. An Indian Sketch [fiction], I (November, December, 1841), 76-82, 163-169
• Smith, O. L.
• Modern Refinement [article], III (December, 1842), 57-62
• Smith (Mrs.) Susan A.
• A Sister's Love [sketch], II (September, 1842), 347-349
• The Widow of Zarephath [poem], III (January, 1843), 120-121
• Somers
• The Invitation [poem], I (December, 1841), 156
• My Native Land [poem], I (January, 1842), 205
• To 'Just Fifteen'—With a White Rose [poem], II (May, 1842), 104
• Snodgrass, J. Evans
• The Poor Man's Complaint [poem], I (March, 1842), 370
• Unbleached Webs of Thought [article], II (July, 1842), 220-222
• S., R. S.
• Charade [poem], II (August, 1842), 299
• T., W. T. [William Tappan Thompson?]
• Great Attraction! Or the Doctor 'Most Audaciously Tuck in!' A Sketch from Real Life, I (March, 1842), 364-370
• Thompson, William T.
• The Fisherman's Daughter. From a Series of Unpublished Tales of Georgia History, II (April, 1842), 46-50
• The Patriot Brothers, A Tale of the Revolutionary History of Georgia, II (May, 1842), 109-116
• Boss Ankles, The Man What Got Blowed Up With a Sky Racket [sic]. A Sketch from Life, II (June, 1842), 161-165
• Walley, (Miss) M. E.
• The Power of Music. Altered From the French [fiction], I (January, 1842), 219-224
• Cecelia, Or Principle versus Passion [fiction], I (March, 1842), 353-360
• The Macrobite. From the French [fiction], II (April, 1842), 19-29
• Eighteen Months in Russia. By a Professor of Arms. Translated from the French for the 'Companion' [autobiography], II (June, July, August, 1842), 169-173, 216-220, 267-[274]
• Wilde, (Hon.) R. H.
• Lines Written for Viscountess ___'s Album, I (October, 1841), 34
• Wood, (Mrs.), Charlotte M.
• Diana, The Blind Girl of Machecaul. From the French of Soulie [fiction], I (November, December, 1841, January, February, 1842), 105-111, 156-162, 225-232, 265-271
• Florita, A Spanish Tale. Altered from the French for the 'Family Companion' [fiction], II (June, 1842), 129-142
• Woodworth, Samuel
• The Deed of Gift, A Domestic Tale, I (October, November, December, 1841, February, 1842), 44-46, 73-76, 170-175, 298-311
• To a Lady—On Parting [poem], II (April, 1842), 17
• To Mary [poem], II (June, 1842), 156
• Critics [poem], II (August, 1842), 282
• Wooten, (Dr.) H. V.
• Influence of Adversity on Mental Progress [article], II (May, 1842), 90-93
• Intellectual and Moral Culture [article], II (June, 1842), 152-156
• Colonel George Washington Weaver, The 'Big Man of his Settlement' [sketch], II (September, 1842), 327-331
• Egotism of Self-Made Men [article], III (December, 1843), 40-41

Notes