Author: Nephew, Caroline Clifford
Biography:
NEPHEW, Caroline Clifford, later STILES (1810-1879: ancestry.com)
In 1825 the Lexington Female Academy in Lexington KY laid on an elaborate program of "exercises" in honour of a visit by General Lafayette and renamed itself the Lafayette Female Academy. One of the star pupils at the 1825 celebrations was Miss Nephew of Darien GA, daughter of Sarah Catherine (Pelot) and Captain James Nephew. She recited verses she had composed in French and an original Ode in English, and sang a song as she presented a wreath to the visitor. Her poem "The Triumphs of Genius" dominated the following year's exercises. In 1828 she married Joseph Clay Stiles, a Presbyterian minister (1795-1875); she was his second wife and they had at least four children together. During the course of his career he was in charge of churches in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, New York, and Connecticut. She is not known ever to have published again. She died and is buried in Richmond VA. (ancestry.com 13 May 2020; Visit of General Lafayette to the Lafayette Female Academy . . . [1825]; School Exercises of the Lafayette Female Academy . . . [1826])