User:Abomb66/Susan Nye Hutchison

Susan Nye Hutchison (1790–1867) was a principal and educator from Amenia who was well respected for her work in advancing female education. She founded multiple school with varying degrees of success. She was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church and was known to pray with the misfortunate, such as slaves or the ill, and people came to her for spiritual advice. She was antislavery and voiced her opinions on emancipation in publications in the South.

Hutchison faced economic troubles for much of her life but came out of it in her later years at Charlotte Female Academy. She married an abusive man named Adam who she was financially responsible for. With the approval of her church, she moved to Amenia and he died in her absence. She had four children and spent much of her life living with her sister, Amanda.

Raleigh Academy
As it was nearby to where she grew up and prestigious enough to qualify her for her job at Raleigh Academy, Hutchison likely attended Litchfield Female Academy despite never scribing the name.

Unsure if she would ever return, Susan Nye Hutchison gleefully left her family’s farm in New York on April 22, 1815, at the age of twenty-four, after receiving an offer to teach at Raleigh Academy. She and her parents traveled to Poughkeepsie and met up with several friends before Hutchison boarded a sloop and took the Hudson River to New York City; she would record her first entry in her journal that night. She met up with her cousin Jesse Barlow, explored the city, and stayed for five days with John Murray, a Quaker abolitionist and philanthropist. On April 28th, she boarded a sloop on its way to Willington, North Carolina and encountered rough, sickening seas on the nine day journey. She would then travel to Fayetteville, and after two days she left for Raleigh.

In Raleigh—about to become head of the Female Department—Hutchison met the principal of Raleigh Academy, McPheeters. She was welcomed by the Presbyterian community and would help found Raleigh's first Presbyterian Church a year later. Hutchison had some trouble adjusting to life in Raleigh—possibly because she had a more French education as opposed to the English curriculum at Raleigh Academy—and was not used to speaking in front of crowds of men and women. Sometimes the culture of Raleigh clashed with her Presbyterian beliefs, such as dining with others on Sundays or wearing more revealing clothing. Although she states in her journals that she sometimes misses Amenia, she also enjoyed the company of many of those in Raleigh. She attended school examinations just two weeks into her job and said that she met the task with difficulty. Hutchison soon discovered that over the last decade, Raleigh Academy had added a plethora of subjects to the department, including astronomy, history, French, embroidery, chemistry, natural philosophy, Old Testament, and others. Hutchison taught many core subjects and put more of an emphasis on religion in her department, tying together science and knowledge of God. She challenged gender roles of time by demonstrating public Chemistry experiments at the State House with her students, this being the first record of a female doing science in such a manner in the United States. Hutchison was a well respected and regarded teacher at the academy, and in addition to her teaching and examination duties, she also had to provide her peers with spiritual guidance.

Augusta and Amenia
After her eight years in Raleigh, Hutchison learned of an opportunity to found a school in Augusta, Georgia. She modeled the female school after Raleigh Academy and her journals suggest that this move was encouraged by her peers. Hutchison married a widower named Adam despite warning signs of aggression and founded Mrs. Adam Hutchison’s School while starting a family but ran into financial and marriage challenges. Hutchison’s sister, Amanda, also lived with them at this time. Hutchison was very active in her community and church and made many friends.

Before founding the school, in October of 1826, the couple ran into financial troubles (although Adam kept the troubles to himself) in the wake of the Savannah River being too low for cotton carrying steamboats to travel it. Adam was unable to make a profit on his cotton trading and took his anger out by whipping baby Sylvanus, cutting his tooth. They were forced to move to a small rental house and soon, on July 4th, Ebenezer Nye Hutchison was born. At the time, Hutchison was not teaching, but getting back into the classroom was a possibility to generate more income. After a bit of contemplation, she put an advertisement in the local newspaper about founding a school. Soon after founding the school, the couple moved into a cheaper neighborhood in town. The school had twenty students by the time two years had passed, but the couple still saw financial troubles and fell deeper into debt even after Adam got a job at a bank. When Hannah died of illness in early October, Adam became more depressed and violent. Eventually, Hutchison, her three sons, her step daughter Elizabeth, and Amanda returned to the Nye family farm in Amenia—they arrived on June 3rd, 1830. Hutchison returned on September 18th, but left behind her two eldest sons (this custom is called “sending children out”) and her sister. She would not see her sons for three years nor would she journal for ten months. Back in Augusta, while Hutchison and her husband did spend quality time together, Adam was sometimes angry and demanding of obedience.

When Hutchison finally started writing again, she mentions Adam’s suspension from communion. On August 8th, 1831, Hutchison wrote about suspicions in the First Presbyterian Church that she was being abused. Down on their luck, Hutchison moved to Beach Island in April after learning that she could lease a property there to found a school. Adam soon bought a horse and left for a hotel without a job, visiting her once a week and putting his financial burdens on her. Susan got permission from her church to return to her parents' farm, reasoning that Adam’s abuse and financial incompetence were in the way of her salvation. Hutchison boarded a boat bound for Savannah with her children on October 23rd, 1833 and after three weeks of travel they arrived at the farm in Amenia. Here she took a position at a local district schoolhouse and began to pay off her debts. She was offered $14.00 a month, over twice the average wage of a male teacher. This was likely impacted by her poor marriage status. She discovered that her parents were suffering financially and decided to help out with chores in her spare time. On June 3rd of 1834, she learned that Adam had gone to Florida rather than return to her, and on October 11th she learned that Adam, who had been in ill health for quite some time, had died. In the years to come, she appreciated her freedom but still felt regret in her ill fated marriage and Adam’s death.

Later career
In October of 1834, William McPheeters invited Hutchison to start an academy in the capital of North Carolina. Hutchison operated in the same building in which she worked at the now closed Raleigh Academy. In order to promote her school, she published her views on female education and hoped to reach a broad audience. Enrolling students ages eight to sixteen, then school was highly profitable. Receiving an offer to start a female academy, Hutchison departed to Salisbury in January of 1836 and boarded with a wealthy merchant Thomas L. Cowan, who was an elder in Presbyterian Church. Knowing that her fellow classmate, Alexander Wilson, ran it, she enrolled her eldest son, Sylvanus, into Greensboro’s Caldwell Institute. Wilson was a minister of the Presbyterian Church. At her school, Hutchison aimed to narrow the divide in subject range offered between men and women. Wanting to receive funding for the higher education of women, Hutchison submitted a memorial to the North Carolina Assembly but never received any public funds, causing her to lose money as her enrollment dropped and her costs increased.

In the spring of 1839, Hutchison received two offers to establish schools. One was from Lincolnton, North Carolina—the other from Augusta, Georgia. She also received an offer of employment at Charlotte Female Academy, which she accepted and the school thrived under her leadership. In 1845 she took a new job as principal of Concord Academy and between 1847 and 1848 she moved back to Amenia near the Nye farm and rejoined her old church. It was likely very difficult being an emancipationist in the south. She wrote no journal entries in the last twenty-six years of her life.

Family
The Nye family lived in Amenia for generations and was well known in the area. Hutchison’s grandfather, Moses Hutchison, and his brother worked as sailors in Sandwich before settling as farmers in Amenia. Sylvanus Hutchison (1753-1841)—a private in the county militia—married Sylvania Barlow (1752-1838) in 1774 and after the American Revolution they purchased a farm near the city and produced flax, wheat, and apples and raised cattle and sheep. On August 13, 1790, Sylvanus and Sylvania had Susan—their seventh child of eight. Despite doing well, there wasn’t much space in Amenia and all but one brother of the family left the area, likely influenced by economic industry and opportunity. When first in New York, Susan Nye Hutchison met up with her cousin Jesse Barlow, who was a soldier.

Susan and Adam had Sylvanus Nye Hutchison on December 29th, 1825. Adam had multiple children from his last marriage: Hannah—born December 14, 181—Robert—born July 14th, 1824—and Elizabeth—born May 26, 1817. Their second child, Ebenezer, was born on July 4th, 1827. Adam Alexander on April 19th, 1830 was the third and John Grey on January 28th, 1832 was the fourth. Sylvanus and Ebenezer graduated from Davidson College in the same year, followed by John. Sylvanus received a law degree, joined the Presbyterian Church, and farmed and taught in Amenia. Ebenezer went to the University of Pennsylvania and studied medicine. Adam Alexander died in 1848. Ebenezer became involved in the Presbyterian Church when he moved back to North Carolina, soon being followed by John. In 1864, John headed west to California and worked as a bridge builder. Ebenezer died in Charlotte in 1880 and Sylvanus died in the North in 1910.

Religion
Shortly before leaving for New York, Hutchison signed a Confession of Faith and converted to Presbyterianism—considering herself an “awakened” Christian and later writing about her concerns over her father’s family not following her path. Hutchison lived at the time of the Second Great Awakening, and if she went to Litchfield—whose leaders aimed to convert students—she would likely have been encouraged to reflect spiritually through journaling, to engage in social reform in areas like education and antislavery, and to push for a more benevolent society under God. It is possible that Hutchison was not allowed to be a minister and, still wanting to be a lay minister and spread Presbyterianism ideology, instead took up the societally accepted role of teaching.

In Raleigh, Hutchison helped Raleigh Academy principal McPheeters found the city’s first Presbyterian Church and felt a strong sense of friendship and community within her religious circles. Before the founding, she prayed at churches of other denominations. She also helped to found the Female Tract Society and the Raleigh Female Benevolent Society. In November of 1825, Susan joined the First Presbyterian Church, as did her sister. She participated in multiple religious societies and was very active in her church, participating in religious revival. She read many religious texts, such as missionary biographies and sermons (she also read some history).

Hutchinson wrote many publications in her life, often in regard to the Presbyterian Church. She wrote about unity and against limitations of the activity of women, citing the Old Testament. When the church split, she concluded that all were bound for eternal life and not just some chosen few. Throughout her life, she was known to pray with the misfortunate, such as slaves, the imprisoned, or the sick. She was keen on spreading her religion and was inquisitive about others; they came to her for guidance, such as a woman asking Hutchison to save her daughter from a brothel.

Thoughts on slavery
Hutchinson witnessed and heard of brutal mistreatment of slaves and found it difficult to reconcile the hardship they faced. An example of this was the beating and murder of a missing slave named Stephan which was followed by the first ever trial of a white person for the murder of a Black person. She was known to pray with slaves in the streets of Raleigh and felt as if she could religiously convert slave owners then the brutality would cease and at her school. She used Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy to guide her teachings about slavery and emancipation. At the First Presbyterian Church, she was welcoming to the slaves that worshipped there and supported their want for independent worship. When a slave named Jenny was sentenced to execution for starting a fire in 1827, Hutchison visited her in her jail cell. Hutchison wrote in many publications about her emancipationist beliefs and secretly taught slaves how to read, which was very risky at the time. She may have been the first woman in the South to publish pieces about the need for emancipation. She also composed an essay supporting unity of the Presbyterian Church over conflicting ideas on slavery in the face of its inevitable split.

Over her life, she hired multiple slaves to take care of her children, and at one point a slave named Ned who was taking care of Adam Alexander and asked her to buy him in the face of his master moving states. It is likely that Ned would have left his wife behind, and, whether or not it was for moral reasons—over family or the idea of owning a slave—or financial reasons, after some contemplation Hutchinson opted not to buy him.