Eliza Jane McKissack (née Aykroyd; b. Eliza Jones Aykroyd Dec. 11, 1828, New Bern, North Carolina;[1] d. Jan. 15, 1900, Nashville, Tennessee) was a music teacher who, in 1890, became the founding head of music at the University of North Texas College of Music, then called Normal Conservatory of Music,[2][3] part of Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute, which was founded in 1890 as a private institution. The College of Music, today, is a comprehensive school with the largest enrollment of any institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.[4] It is the oldest (and first) in the world offering a degree in jazz studies. Since the 1940s, the College of Music has been among the largest in the country.[5]
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McKissack, from Nashville, was highly recommended for the college position – as pianist and vocalist – by Bishop Charles Quintard of Tennessee, U.S. Senator Edward C. Walthall of Grenada, Mississippi, and Orville Brewer of Chicago. She had received her musical training in Boston and New York.[6]
McKissack remained at the college for two academic years: 1890-1991 and 1891-1892. Three years after leaving Denton, records show that McKissack studied at the New England Conservatory in the academic year 1895–1896. While there, she studied piano with Reinhold Faelten (1856–1949) and took courses in Hand Culture and Sight Playing. At that time, her permanent address was listed as Oxford, Mississippi.[7] Her Will (probated in Davidson County, Tennessee), provides two address: 1897 – Boscobel College, Nashville; January 1899 – Oxford, Mississippi.
The full course in Music, embracing both Voice and Piano, 44 weeks,
four lessons a week, and practice, together with two studies selected
from our literary course, for only $200, in advance. This includes 175
private lessons, full chorus drills, elocution, theory, class recitations
and two extra branches in the college.
Classes at Texas Normal College first commenced Tuesday, September 16, 1890.
Teachers at the Conservatory
The 1890 catalog listed piano, organ, and voice, all offered through private lessons.
The College, during its first three years, faced a difficult economy, which included the Panic of 1893. By 1893, not one faculty member from the original group remained.
Six music students were awarded medals at the college's first commencement exercises on June 18, 1991:[10]
Musical parents — Eliza Jane McKissack was born in New York to James P. (1810-1835[11]) and Elizabeth Aykroyd, née Bettner (d. Mar. 12, 1869).[12][13] James and Elizabeth were married on July 12, 1824, in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina.[14][15] Elizabeth, Eliza's mother, was a music teacher in Nashville.[16] Elizabeth's will was filed July 10, 1869, in Will Book 21, Page 345, Davidson County, Tennessee.
In practically every North Carolina village where there was an academy there was also a music teacher, an art teacher, and sometimes a dancing teacher. In some of these towns, such as New Bern, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Wilmington, there were music teachers independent of academy patronage. In 1823 James Aykroyd, then of New Bern, "respectfully informed the citizens of Hillsboro and its vicinity that he intended giving lessons in music there during the summer months." His terms were "for the Piano, twelve dollars a quarter, for lessons every other week; and three dollars for vocal music, two lessons every other week."[17][18]
Musical sibling — Eliza had a sister, Maria Caroline Cauthorn, née Aykroyd (b. June 20, 1831, New Bern, North Carolina;[19] d. Sep. 17, 1894). On July 21, 1869, Maria married Benjamin F. Cauthorn[20] (b. July 20, 1836, Virginia; d. June 1, 1902); both were buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee (tombstone image for Maria); (tombstone image for Benjamin). Maria was a music teacher in Nashville.[21] Maria's will was filed September 1894 in Will Book 32, Page 438, Davidson County, Tennessee.
Husband — On August 10, 1854, in Pulaski, Tennessee, Eliza married Alexander Cogle McKissack (b. 30 April 1831 Roxboro, NC; d. 26 Sept 1898, Memphis, TN).[22][23][24] Alexander was an 1852 alumnus of Yale College. He died near Memphis at the home of his sister (during a visit), Jessie McKissack Peters of Van Dorn and Spring Hill repute.[25][26][27]
Alexander McKissack, a native of Pulaski, Tennessee, moved to Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1956 with his wife, Eliza. Except for his tenure in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he resided on his plantation, 4 miles north of Holly Springs, until his death.
Child — Alexander and Eliza had only one child, a daughter, who died early.
Eliza's death — Eliza Jane McKissack died January 15, 1900, Nashville, Tennessee. The funeral service was held at Christ Church and the burial was at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee (tombstone image).[28] Her will was filed January 1900 in Will Book 35, Page 390, Davidson County, Tennessee. Lacking a surviving sibling, husband, or child, Eliza bequeathed the plantation to her sole nephew, Percy C. Cauthorn (1870–1909; tombstone image for Percy). One of the two witnesses to the Codicil of her Will was Mrs. J. C. Sheegog (née Joella C. Pegues; 1839–1938; widow to James Gowen Sheegog; 1836–1869). William Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak, was the boyhood home of James Gowen Sheegog – and was built around 1840 by James' father, Robert Sheegog (1801–1860).
| Music | Enrollment |
| at North | Texas |
| 2006-07 | 1,649 |
| 2007-08 | 1,659 |
| 2008-09 | 1,608 |
| 2009-10 | 1,635 |