We know four primary occurrences
that marked Georgiana’s earliest time in America. We know she separated from her husband, she
gave birth to a son, she began working in Providence as a school teacher, and
she lost a son.
Edward separated from his wife
and children and returned to England by 1840 (Georgiana Nias was head of
household in the 1840 census). He was
known to have been a “worthless man” (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of
Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren). By
1837, the Nias family (unknown if Edward Nias made this move) had arrived in
Providence, Rhode Island (1840 Rhode Island census). After the separation and according to
Georgiana’s associates in Providence, her estranged husband was "known" to have
been a Royal Navy captain. However, this
was untrue though he did have relatives that were associated with the Royal
Navy. The story was likely an acceptable ruse to lessen the embarrassment of being left by her husband.
During her early time in the new country, Georgiana had also given birth to
a son Howard Nias. This was likely to
have occurred shortly after arrival in America, around 1836 or 1837. Probably in 1837, Georgiana’s youngest son
Howard passed away (Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Vol
6). Though Nias was reported to have
been an “ideal mother figure,” she was not able to save her unhealthy infant:
“…‘dear Mrs. Nias’ was often confined at home with a sickly infant who
was “taken with convulsive fits.” (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of
Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
After the loss of a husband and
the death of her child, her coworkers grew concerned for her well-being.
“the row felt a certain sympathy for Nias while also wishing her to
marry an eligible bachelor, one who promised security and complacency instead
of the single life. The death of her
child led to sober reflections by the row, assuaged by the headmaster, who told
the subdued girls that the infant was ‘happier in heaven than it would be
here.’” (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
Greene Street (red) located in
central Providence, Rhode Island
Georgiana Nias became an
assistant teacher under the principal teacher Daniel Capron, whom she worked with
during the years 1837 and 1838 as a teacher of drawing, dancing, and the French
language. The school was named the
Greene Street School and catered to students of the upper class in
Providence. It began in June 1837 under
the direction of Hiram Fuller and was dedicated by the famous poet Ralph Waldo
Emerson. The Greene Street School
building was an architectural wonder, erected in the Greek Temple design, and
featured velvet-covered desks, a library, piano, and busts of history’s famous
scholars.
“At four o’clock the pupils and teacher assembled at Mr. Farley’s
meetinghouse for the dedication. [Ralph
Waldo] Emerson rose to deliver his good words, words about Mammon and chaste
imaginations, immediate emolument and patient learning, Eastern mysticism, Kant
and Fichte. ‘What is thrice-wreathed mysticism?’ Miss Ahorn whispered. Mrs. Nias shrugged her shoulders and mentioned
something about Germano-Sartor-Resartus-ism. ‘Here in Providence, we have not
acquired the taste for such verbiage.’ [Margaret Fuller] looked at Mrs. Nias,
who was adjusting a flower on her bonnet.
Mrs. Nias had triumphed no doubt with a smile. She would win with her mind. The Greene Street School had been dedicated.”
(The Life of Margaret Fuller by Stern)
Artist rendition of the Greene
Street School in 1837 Providence
Georgiana Nias worked with
Margaret Fuller while at Greene Street School.
Fuller, best known for her work as a literary critic and women’s rights
advocate in the 1840s, was hired as an assistant teacher in April 1837 for the
unusually high salary of $1000 per year.
She began work in June and continued her employment there for a year and
a half, until December 1838. During the
1837 and 1838 years, both Margaret Fuller and the Georgiana Nias family lived
in a house outside of town with Miss Susan Ahorn, the mother of Frances Ahorn,
another teacher at Greene Street School (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of
Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren). Margaret
Fuller and Georgiana Nias (with her family) shared a common parlor in the home.
Georgiana’s family included her children Raymond, Harry, and Howard (who was likely deceased by the time Fuller arrived) and her female ward Fanny Staples (who was
about 13 in 1837). Also living at the
home were Ahorn’s relatives, grandchildren, and other boarders. The large home was clean but small and dingy.
While Margaret Fuller taught in a
more scholarly fashion, Nias and Ahorn educated in a way that was more typical
of the “Dame School” teachers of the era (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of
Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren).
“Margaret Fuller was [not] graceful in Georgianna Nias’s soft way” (From
“Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren). Nias was considered the antithesis to
Margaret Fuller. Fuller purportedly
stated that Nias “might have once been worth educating” to indicate her
disapproval for Nias’ pedagogical methods (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life
of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren).
Georgiana Nias is mentioned in several books written about Fuller:
“[When Fuller arrived in Providence], the ladies watched while Margaret
unpacked. Miss Ahorn was impressed by
the books and microscope she removed from her boxes and placed upon the
table. Mrs. Nias was more interested in
the bonnets and muslin gowns. Mrs. Nias,
Margaret thought, would be a more serious rival in the Greene Street School.”
(The Life of Margaret Fuller by Stern)
“[Margaret Fuller] was interested in the school above all things and
immediately plunged into a discussion of the ways of the younger pupils. Mrs.
Nias was different. English, French, and
American blood had united in her to form a person of grace and beauty. She looked like a Pari, Margaret though; that
ornament she wore in her hair was charming; surely her smile had captivated the
scholars already. Mrs. Nias mentioned
her drawing and French classes, but when Margaret spoke of her own classical
studies, she was silent, smiling, but never answering. She may be clever, Margaret concluded, but
surely she has not had much training.
Obviously she preferred talking about her two little boys, who attended
the school, to discussing Virgil. Later
Mrs. Ahorn told Margaret that a third child had died and that Mrs. Nias was
separated from her husband and never mentioned him.” (The Life of Margaret
Fuller by Stern)
“[Mrs. Georgiana Nias’] charm of manner and beauty of face, with her
consequent admiration, seem to have been allurements to the green monster
(envy) sometimes shown by Margaret Fuller’s yearning heart.” (The Critic,
Volume 43, edited by Gilder and Gilder)
Margaret
Fuller
A student later reminisced of a
time at Greene Street School (Publications of the Rhode Island Historical
Society, Vol 6):
“During class one day, Mrs. Nias, whom there was no more highly
educated, refined and accomplished lady in Providence, made a particularly
bright remark. Another teacher Miss
Fuller turned to her and said, ‘Why Mrs. Nias, you would have been worth
educating.’”
Also, the following descriptions
are found of Georgiana Nias:
“…Mrs. Georgiana Nias, a woman of Anglo-American birth with French
alliances, noted for her great beauty, taught drawing, dancing, and other
accomplishments.” (The Critic, Volume 43, edited by Gilder and Gilder)
“Mrs. Georgianna Nias, another of the assistant teachers, was a bright
young English lady, highly educated in France as well as in her own land…She
was very handsome and graceful in person, and winning in her manners, and was a
great favorite with the scholars, who progressed well under her teaching. She taught the junior class in English and
French, also drawing and dancing, and assisted Miss Ahorn in the primary
department.” (Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Vol 6)
“Georgianna Nias was beautiful, graceful, and possessed of a “Swanlike
neck,” a model nineteenth-century woman-as-flower figure.” (From “Minerva and
the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
“’Beautiful’, ‘refined’, and ‘kind’ several students exulted to their
families, ‘she has perfect manners – no one more graceful ever existed.”
(Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life Volume 1 by Capper)
“Georgiana Nias…represented all that was soft, graceful, and feminine
in New England. She was admired by the
row for her beauty and an exotic past…” (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life of
Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
“She is a most lovely woman, she has the most perfect manners, no one
more graceful ever existed. She is an
English lady, she has lived in France...” (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life
of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
A patron commented on Georgiana Nias’ “great beauty” (From “Minerva and
the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren)
“…her image rises before me – a woman as graceful and as beautiful as a
Perl, and she could smile-ye gods! How she could smile.” (From Book Notes:
Consisting of Literary Gossip, Criticisms of Books…Volume 10)
“Georgianna Nias, a young, French-educated, Unitarian English
woman. Nias [was] beautiful, refined,
and kind, several students exulted to their families – she has perfect manners
– no one more graceful ever existed.” (From Margaret Fuller: An American
Romantic Life Volume 1: The Private Years)
“The flower or bright jewel in Mrs. Nias’ dark tresses was worth
imitating.” (The Life of Margaret Fuller by Stern)
Nias continued to teach at Greene
Street School in 1839. After school
hours, Nias taught private French lessons (From “Minerva and the Muse: A Life
of Margaret Fuller” by Von Mehren).
