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responding to a scathing letter she wrote to one of her admirers asking forgiveness. She was honest to a fault. She was a free spirit that could live comfortably in her imagination, but she also joyed in others. She was amiable but not outgoing. She was basically shy and hated to appear before groups of people, sending someone else when duties called her to appear. She loved life and joyed in her children. She taught them nature lore. She knew things that others couldn?t comprehend even with experience. She may have been psychic. As a child, she strikingly resembles an Indago or Chrystal child, two of the Psychic personalities defined by that group. ?Did you know she could levitate?? her granddaughter, Elizabeth told me in an interview... ?and bend spoons!? I wasn?t shocked to hear this, whether she could or it was a magic trick she performed for her children.
Eliza Jane had participated in several interviews and was written about in journals and articles in magazines. There are many short histories and there is a lengthy history of the Daily Picayune during her reign, but her true nature has never been captured. Who she was comes out in her poetry and the various articles she wrote when she was editor. She was a gifted writer, whose sincerity and general knowledge of the world comes through clearly. Every article takes a journey where she brings the reader along in companionship. Every poem has a message. She reveals the depth of her pain and the height of her joy. She questions herself and the world constantly and through her newspaper, fostered many causes. She did not promote woman suffrage, but suggested that women be ready when it comes. Her view on slavery is not known, nor her view on freed slaves. I expect there was a resentment because these freed blacks were responsible for voting in the corrupt government. Her husband George, however, in a letter to her, suggested a change in their position on the issue, saying that perhaps the blacks should not have been given the right to vote. What followed, we all know, were the poll taxes and the literacy test. How involved the newspaper was in these voting restrictions, I do not yet know. The histories of the newspaper during Eliza?s reign do not site any editorial opinion. I would be shocked if Eliza did support such restrictions. Her principals were never based on public sentiment.
To date, I?ve found over 200 of her poems. She wrote mostly verse, some portions with genius, some mediocre, which is typical, even with famous poets. During her time she was probably the most famous poet in the south. It seems that after her marriage to Holbrook and attack by his ex wife, her poetry suffered and when she took over the newspaper, she had little time to write. It would not be revived until the birth of her first son Leonard when she began to write children?s verse, but later in life, her poetic skills were revived with two narrative poems: Hagar and Leah, defending those two women who were given a bad rap in the bible. Both, especially Hagar received national acclaim. As editor, she did write many articles about her job, society and her boys,
Eliza Jane died in 1896, two weeks after Gorge?s death, both of influenza. They are buried in Metairie Cemetery. They left two sons, Leonard Kimball Nicholson, age fifteen and York Poitevent Nicholson, age twelve. Aunt Annie, the oldest of George?s daughters took over care of the boys while the editor, Rapier took over their financial interest. Leonard became the editor of the Times Picayune. York worked for the paper but was sickly and worked only when he felt up to it. Both boys graduated from VMI and were best friends. Elinor, a deceased granddaughter said York never talked about his mother but he did tell her stories of English folklore that George told him. Elizabeth, the Granddaughter that I interviewed, said he did talk about both his mother and father, but