Introduction

Biography

Adelia was the daugh­ter of phy­si­cian Dan­iel M. Spen­cer and Ma­ri­an T. Cook, and wife of Zu­ing­li­us Cal­vin Graves, pre­si­dent of the Kings­ville Aca­de­my (where she taught draw­ing and French), lat­er found­er and for 40 years pre­si­dent of Ma­ry Sharp Col­lege, Win­che­ster, Ten­nes­see.

Adelia showed her gift for po­et­ry ve­ry young, writ­ing vers­es as ear­ly as age nine.

She served at Ma­ry Sharp Col­lege first as a pro­fess­or of La­tin and Belles-Lettres, then as Ma­tron and Pro­fess­or of Rhe­tor­ic. She con­trib­ut­ed po­ems and sto­ries to va­ri­ous per­i­o­di­cals, and for a num­ber of years ed­it­ed the Child­ren’s Book.

Works

• First Les­sons in Gen­tle­ness and Truth, by Aunt Al­ice (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: J. P. Jew­ett, 1854)
• A Home Book: For Good Child­ren, with Mrs. T. D. Crewd­son et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Will­is P. Hazard, 1855)
• Melodies of Heart and Home (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: St. Lou­is Bap­tist Pub­lish­ing, 1859)
• Old Tes­ta­ment Ca­te­chism in Rhyme (Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see, 1859)
• Jephthah’s Daugh­ter, a play (Mem­phis, Ten­nes­see: South-West­ern Pub­lish­ing, 1867)
• Seclusaval; or, The Arts of Ro­man­ism (Mem­phis, Ten­nes­see: South-West­ern Pub­lish­ing, 1870)