The Story of Compiled from the Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook
Nicholson Local History Files & Collections of the Margaret Reed
Crosby Memorial Library & Cultural Center Eliza Jane Nicholson
was the first woman publisher of a major daily newspaper in the
United States. Her story is as fascinating as any for a woman of
her time: a time when it was "not quite nice" for a Southern
lady to write at all; to write for publication was distasteful;
to write for money was unthinkable. Over the protests of her
family, Eliza Jane did all three. But even she did not dare to
use her own name. She wrote under the pseudonym of "Pearl
Rivers" - adopted from the tranquil stream flowing near her
home. Eliza Jane Poitevent was born near Pearlington, Miss., in
1849, one of a large family whose mother was too ill to care for
her. Eliza was reared by relatives in Hobolochitto, Miss. In the
country atmosphere she discovered an affinity for nature and an
ability to attract wildlife that was mirrored in her poetry. A
number of national