He married Caroline Lee Whiting on 30 September 1824, and moved with his wife to Covington, Kentucky, in 1831. Caroline was an author with numerous published works in periodicals and newspapers. It is rumored that although not a revolutionary, her female characters exhibited strong qualities for assertiveness and independence possibly as consequence of an oppressive relationship with her husband. Her last novel, "Ernest Linwood", was based on an incident in which Hentz became jealous of Caroline's admirers and resulted in the end of their residence in Cincinnati. Professor Hentz and his wife had five children: Marcellus Fabius, Charles Arnould, Julia Louisa, Thaddeus William Harris, and Caroline Therese. Julia was born at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She was educated by both of her parents and married in 1846 to Dr. John Washington Keyes in Tuskegee. Julia wrote several short poems but most of her works were never published. Her most well known work was a prize poem called "A Dream of Locust Dell". The youngest daughter, Caroline Therese was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and also educated by her parents and married the Baptist pastor, Rev. James O. Branch. She went on to publish tales and sketches published in magazines. Charles Arnould became a physician.
Religious Concerns
As the most accomplished entomologist in the United States, Hentz was offered an honorary M.A. degree by the University of North Carolina in 1829. Yet, there were mixed feelings in the community about the renowned scholar. The community at the university was largely Presbyterian and did not approve of Hentz's Roman Catholic background, and was predisposed to "ejaculatory prayer". The professor also had a severe nervous disorder. Many of his students thought the study of French went against their religious principles. Consequently, Hentz was suspected of French revolutionary liberalism. Professor Hentz resigned from the university in 1833 after finding new academic regulations too restrictive. After Hentz left the university, French was completely dropped from the curriculum.
Insects
Hentz became a pioneering zoologist in the field of arachnology. In France, he had developed a long lasting friendship with Thomas Say. Originally, he and Say were going to collaborate and illustrate a collection called "American Entomology". In the United States, Hentz took to collecting insects. He sold his collection to the Boston Society of Natural History in the 1840s. Hentz is best known for describing 141 spider species and these descriptions were published in the society's journal between 1842 and 1850. He was one of the first to collect and document North American spiders. As is custom in binomial naming, each species was noted with his name and the year Hentz classified them. A few spiders from his collection are the Yellow sac spider, the Southern house spider, a common tarantula, and a genus of jumping spider. Hentz made his first publication on alligators in 1820 which was followed by French textbooks issued between 1822 and 1839. In 1825, he published a novel about the Indian massacre of 1778. This novel is called "Tadeuskund, the Last King of the Lenape, an Historical Tale". Finally, his major collection in arachnology was republished in 1875. This collection is entitled "The Spiders of the United States: A Collection of the Arachnological Writings of Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, M.D."
