Asenath Wallace Carothers

Asenath (Cenie) W. Carothers, clubwoman and university administrator, daughter of William J. and Susan (Williams) Wallace, was born on the family plantation at New London, Arkansas, on February 6, 1859. She was orphaned by the age of five and was reared by her aunt in Starkville, Mississippi, where she attended Starkville Seminary for Women and graduated with honors. In 1882 she married Neil Carothers of Starkville. The couple had five children, one of whom died in infancy. They lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for about five years, where Carothers became an attorney. In 1897 they moved to Arkansas, where she became an officer in the Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs and began writing articles and short stories for newspapers and magazines.

Neil Carothers died in 1901, leaving Cenie with four children. She became head librarian at the University of Arkansas. In 1903 she accepted the position as director of the Woman's Building, a residence hall at the University of Texas, where she remained until her retirement in 1928. She was founder, sponsor, and first regent of the Andrew Carruthers Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which limited its membership to students, faculty, and ex-students of the University of Texas. She initiated a state DAR scholarship at the university and similar scholarships at other state educational institutions. She also established a scholarship for student teachers. Carothers Dormitory on the University of Texas campus is named for her. A chair in her honor was purchased in Constitution Hall, Philadelphia, by the DAR. She was a Presbyterian, a charter member of the Pan-American Round Table in Austin, and a member of the Society of Colonial Dames, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the University Ladies Club. She died in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on February 25, 1933, and was buried in Starkville, Mississippi.