A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Welby, Amelia B.
WELBY, AMELIA B.,
Whose maiden name was Coppuck, was born in St. Michael's, Maryland, in 1821. About 1835, her father removed to Louisville, Kentucky, where, three years afterwards, she was married to Mr. George B. Welby, a merchant of that city. Mrs. Welby began to write at a very early age, and, when scarcely more than a girl, her poems, which were published under the nom de plume of Amelia, in the Louisville Journal, had gained for her no small degree of fame, as one of the most promising of our numerous band of young writers. Without displaying any marked or peculiar traits of genius, her writings possess a finish and graceful ease; they show true and warm womanly feelings, a refined delicacy, and an eye to perceive, together with a mind that can appreciate the lovely and beautiful in spirit, as well as in nature. They are evidently not mere imitations of some favourite writer, but have a character and style of their own, which has probably contributed much to their popularity. In 1844, a collection of her poems was published in Boston, which met with unusual success for that class of writings, going through no less than four large editions in four years. In 1850, a larger collection of her writings was published by the Appletons of New York, in a volume beautifully illustrated.