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Julia Keese Colles

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Julia Keese Nelson Colles
Posthumous miniature portrait of Colles, painted by her daughter, artist and suffrage activist Gertrude Colles.
Born1840
Died1913 (aged 73)
SpouseGeorge Wetmore Colles (1867–1886)
Parents
  • Julia Ann Keese
  • John Peter Nelson

Julia Keese Nelson Colles (1840–1913) was an American historian, lecturer, and writer who lived in and studied Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1893, she published a collection of Morristown, New Jersey history in Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown.[1] Colles also helped found the women's branch of the New Jersey Historical Society, and served as the chair of social science at Rutgers Female College in New York City.[2] She was also a member of the Women's Town Improvement Association, and the American Historical Association.

She gave educational lectures in private homes in Morristown, New Jersey. She gave in-depth lectures focused on the lives of famous literary figures, including Shakespeare, Spenser, Coleridge, Byron, Milton, Goethe, and Chaucer.[3] Other topics included German literature, Russian literature, drama, the art of conversation, Alfred the Great, Marie Antoinette, Martha Washington, Marie Louise, and Hortense de Beauharnais.[3]

Personal life

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In 1840, Julia Keese Nelson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to Julia Ann Keese and wealthy plantation owner John Peter Nelson.[3][2]

In 1857, she graduated from the Abbott Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies,[2] a school founded by Gorham Dummer Abbott.

On October 16, 1867, Julia Keese Nelson married George Wetmore Colles, whom she had met via her father's business. They were married in Poughkeepsie, New York.[4] The couple had two daughters and one son: portrait artist and suffrage activist Gertrude Colles (1869–1957), poet and engineer George Wetmore Colles Jr. (1871–1951) and Barnard College physics teacher and Columbia doctoral candidate Julia Nelson Colles (1876–1903).[3] The couple separated in 1886, after which George left for New York.[5] Meanwhile, Colles retained custody of her children and continued to live in Morristown.[2]

Circa 1902, the Morris Social Directory lists Colles and her children living at 20 High Street in Morristown.[6]

Colles's letters to her friend, the Morristown playwright Sophie Radford de Meissner, are stored in the Colles Family Papers, Box 4, Folder 37, in the Morristown and Morris Township Library.[7]

Historical preservation

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Colles prevented the demolition of the historic Arnold's Tavern, which was later converted into the All Souls' Hospital.

In 1886, the historic Arnold's Tavern was scheduled for demolition.[8] Originally located in the Morristown Green, the building was George Washington's winter headquarters from January to May 1777 and the place of Benedict Arnold's first trial in 1780.[9][10] To preserve it, Colles arranged to move the building from the Morristown Green to her estate on Mt. Kemble Avenue in Morristown,[11] intending to enlarge the building to be used as a historic hotel.[12] Colles briefly describes the acquisition in Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown.[10]

In an unknown year, Colles renovated the Tavern into the "Colonial House," which was "a residence for summer boarders who came to Morristown as a vacation area."[13] In 1890, the house was sold at a public auction, where it was purchased by the Catholic All Souls' Hospital Association to become the All Souls' Hospital on December 18, 1891.[14]

In 1893, Colles published a collection of Morristown, New Jersey history in Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown: With a Chapter on Historic Morristown.[1][3] The book was published by the Vogt Brothers in Morristown. Colles presented her books Authors Associated with Newark and A Forgotten Historical Nook to the New Jersey Historical Society, but neither was published.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Colles, Julia Keese (1893). Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown: With a Chapter on Historic Morristown. Morristown, NJ: Vogt Bros.
  2. ^ a b c d "Colles family - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Manuscript Group 1080, Julia Keese Nelson Colles (1840 - 1913) Papers 1890 - 1906". 2016-03-22. Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  4. ^ Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University - Deceased from June, 1910, to July, 1916 (1910-1915). Published by Yale in New Haven, 1915. p. 27.
  5. ^ "Civil War Biographies: Chinnock-Collins – Green-Wood". www.green-wood.com. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  6. ^ "History - The Kellogg Club". www.kelloggclub.org. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  7. ^ "Finding Aid to the Colles Family Papers, 1807–1946". North Jersey History and Genealogy Center. Morristown and Morris Township Library. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  8. ^ All Soul's Hospital Archived 2012-07-08 at archive.today, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center. Accessed July 17, 2011.
  9. ^ "CONTENTdm". jfpl.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  10. ^ a b Colles, Julia Keese (1893). Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown: With a Chapter on Historic Morristown. Morristown, NJ: Vogt Bros. Retrieved 2022-10-25 – via Gutenberg.org.
  11. ^ "Social media post about All Souls' Hospital by Morris County Historical Society at Acorn Hall". Facebook. Morris County Historical Society at Acorn Hall. Retrieved 2022-10-22.[unreliable source?]
  12. ^ "Revolutionary War Sites in Morristown, New Jersey". Revolutionary War New Jersey. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  13. ^ Hoskins, Barbara; Foster, Caroline Rose (1960). Washington Valley: An Informal History, Morris County, New Jersey. Edwards Brothers.
  14. ^ Flynn, Joseph M. (1892). The Story of a Parish: The First Catholic Church in Morristown, N.J. - Its Foundation and Development (1847-1892) (PDF). New York: The Columbus Press.[pages needed]
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