Eliza Jane McKissack (néeEliza Jones Aykroyd 11 December 1828, inNew Bern, North Carolina^[1] – 15 January 1900, inNashville, Tennessee) was a music teacher who, in 1890, became the founding head of music at theUniversity of North Texas College of Music, then calledNormal Conservatory of Music,^[2][3] part of Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute, which was founded in 1890 as a private institution. TheCollege of Music, today, is a comprehensive school with the largest enrollment of any institution accredited by theNational 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]

McKissack, fromNashville, was highly recommended for the college position – as pianist and vocalist – byBishop Charles Quintard of Tennessee, U.S. SenatorEdward C. Walthall ofGrenada, 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: 1890–1891 and 1891–1892. Three years after leavingDenton, records show that McKissack studied at theNew 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 asOxford, Mississippi.^[7] Her Will (probated inDavidson County, Tennessee), provides two address: 1897 –Boscobel College, Nashville; January 1899 –Oxford, Mississippi.

Classes at Texas Normal College first commenced Tuesday, September 16, 1890.

Teachers at the Conservatory

• John Moore (1867–1948) taught an ambitious array of engineering classes, but also taught voice and harmony. Upon arriving at Texas Normal College in 1890, Moore held a B.S. from one college and a B.A. from Lebanon College (National Normal University, in existence from 1855 to 1917),Lebanon, Ohio, in engineering, mathematics, and surveying. He then studied at the Universities ofLeipzig andHeidelberg from 1894 to 1895, and received aPhD from Yale in 1895. His dissertation,Studies of Fatigue, was published in studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory.^[9] He then received aD.D. fromCentral College in Missouri. In May 1918, he became a bishop of theMethodist Episcopal Church South in Dallas.
• Joshua Crittenden Chilton (1852–1896), the college's founding president, taughtmusic history and theory of sound.

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 thePanic of 1893. By 1893, not one faculty member from the original group remained.^{[citation needed]}

Six music students were awarded medals at the college's first commencement exercises on June 18, 1991:^[10]

• Miss Annie Carson – Proficiency in Vocal Music
• Miss Josie Bell – Improvement in Instrumental Music
• Madge Spalding – Improvement in Vocal Music
• Ed Hann (Edmund Lyne Hann; 1869–1904)

Eliza Jane McKissack was born in New York toJames P. (1810–1835^[11]) and Elizabeth Aykroyd,née Bettner (d. Mar. 12, 1869).^[12] James and Elizabeth were married on July 12, 1824, inNew Bern,Craven County, North Carolina.^[13][14] Elizabeth, Eliza's mother, was a music teacher in Nashville.^[15]

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 asNew Bern,Raleigh,Greensboro, andWilmington, there were music teachers independent of academy patronage. In 1823 James Aykroyd, then ofNew 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."^[16][17]

On August 10, 1854, inPulaski, Tennessee, Eliza married Alexander Cogle McKissack (b. 30 April 1831Roxboro, NC; d. 26 Sept 1898,Memphis, TN).^[18][19][20] Alexander was an 1852 alumnus ofYale College. He died near Memphis at the home of his sister (during a visit), Jessie McKissack Peters ofVan Dorn and Spring Hill repute.^[21][22][23] Alexander McKissack, a native ofPulaski, Tennessee, moved toHolly Springs, Mississippi, in 1856 with his wife, Eliza. Except for his tenure in theConfederate Army during theCivil War, he resided on his plantation, 4 miles north ofHolly Springs, until his death.

Alexander and Eliza had only one child, a daughter, who died early.

Eliza Jane McKissack died January 15, 1900,Nashville, Tennessee. The funeral service was held atChrist Church and the burial was atMount Olivet Cemetery,Nashville,Tennessee.^[24]

• University of North Texas College of Music faculty
• New England Conservatory alumni
• People from New Bern, North Carolina
• Educators from Nashville, Tennessee
• People from Holly Springs, Mississippi
• People from Oxford, Mississippi
• People from Denton, Texas
• Classical musicians from Texas
• American music educators
• American women music educators
• 1828 births
• 1900 deaths
• Southern Methodists
• Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)
• 19th-century Methodists
• 19th-century American educators
• 19th-century American women educators

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