Author Archives: Terry Lee Marzell

About Terry Lee Marzell

Terry Lee Marzell holds a bachelor's degree in English from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Cal State San Bernardino. She also holds a certificate for Interior Design Level 1 from Mt. San Antonio College. She has been an educator in the Corona Norco Unified School District for more than 30 years.

Timothy Bloodworth: School teacher and American patriot

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Timothy BLoodworth

North Carolina school teacher Timothy Bloodworth was an American patriot and statesman. Photo credit: Founder of the Day

Chalkboard Champions have been as much a part of American life as any other hero since the very beginnings of our country’s history. One such historical figure was North Carolina educator, American patriot, and statesman Timothy Bloodworth.

Timothy was born in New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1736. He was named after his father, who had migrated to North Carolina from Virginia in the early 1700’s. As a young man, Timothy had little formal education, but he pursued a variety of careers.  Although  he spent most of his adulthood before the Revolutionary War as a school teacher, he also farmed, kept a tavern, operated a ferry, practiced medicine, and preached occasionally. He also worked as a wheelwright and watchmaker, but he was probably best known as a blacksmith.
This talented educator eventually emerged as a leader in the movement for independence from Great Britain. When war broke out in 1776, Timothy began making weapons such as muskets and bayonets for the Continental Army. According to legend, he even saw combat as a sniper in fighting around Wilmington, North Carolina.
In 1778 and 1779, he served as a member of the state legislature for North Carolina. After the war ended, he held a number of political posts until serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786. Timothy was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First United States Congress, a position he held from 1790 to 1791. After his tenure in the House ended, he returned to the North Carolina State Legislature. In 1794, Timothy was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1795 to 1801. From then until 1807, this Chalkboard Champion served as collector of customs in Wilmington.
Timothy Bloodworth passed away on August 24, 1814. During World War II, the liberty ship SS Timothy Bloodworth was named in his honor.

School teacher Hercules Mooney was a Revolutionary War hero

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Hercules Mooney

New Hampshire school teacher Hercules Mooney served the cause of liberty during the Revolutionary War. Photo credit: Find a Grave

There are many examples of classroom teachers who serve our country as veterans. This is true of the Chalkboard Hero Hercules Mooney, who served in the American military during both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.

Hercules was born in 1715 in Ballaghmoor, Kings County, Ireland. As a young man in his home country, he found work as a tutor. In 1733, Hercules emigrated to the United States, where he settled in Dover, New Hampshire. There he inaugurated his career as a full-fledged teacher. He worked there for about 17 years, and then, after 1750, he found a teaching position in the nearby town of Durham.

When the French and Indian War broke out in 1757, the intrepid teacher joined the New Hampshire Provincial Regiment. He was given the rank of captain. During this war, Hercules fought at the Siege of Fort William Henry, a battle that unfortunately resulted in resounding defeat. When the war was over, Hercules returned to his teaching post in Durham. In addition to his teaching duties, he was elected a town selectman in 1765.

When the Revolutionary War broke out in 1776, Hercules was ready to serve the cause of liberty. He was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. He served in Long’s regiment and fought at the Battle of Fort Anne during the Saratoga campaign. In June, 1779, he was given command of his own regiment of the New Hampshire Militia. This regiment was given orders to go to Rhode Island to keep watch on the British Army at Newport.

At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Hercules moved to Holderness, Grafton County, New Hampshire, where he continued his duties as a teacher and also served as a justice of the peace.

This Chalkboard Hero passed away at his home in April, 1800. He was 89 years old.

Nathan Daboll: Colonial school teacher and Revolutionary War period figure

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Colonial school teacher and math wizard Nathan Daboll was also a Revolutionary War period figure. Photo credit: Public domain

Nathan Daboll was colonial school teacher and Revolutionary War period figure who authored the mathematics textbook used most often in American schools during the first half of the 19th century. In addition, Nathan published almanacs, which were important sources of information in his day, and he established a famous navigation school in New London, Connecticut.

Nathan was born in Groton, Connecticut, on April 24, 1750. As a child, the young Nathan received little formal education, studying for short time at the local school and then with an area tutor. Despite his lack of formal education, Nathan was born with a natural aptitude for mathematics. As a very young man, Nathan earned his living as a barrel-maker.

Because of his remarkable ability with math, an early colonial publisher of almanacs asked Nathan to calculate almanac entries for his books. Daboll accepted this position, and in 1771 began submitting almanac entries under the alias Edmund Freebetter. Before long, the gifted educator began to publish almanacs and registers under his own name. Almanacs were sometimes used as instruments of propaganda during the years of the American Revolution. Some of Daboll’s almanacs contained satirical or factual political commentary.

Thriving in an academic atmosphere, Nathan accepted a position as a teacher of mathematics at the Academic School in Plainfield, Connecticut. He taught there from 1783 to 1788. This remarkable educator is probably best known for writing a comprehensive math textbook, The Complete Schoolmaster’s Assistant: Being a Plain, Practical System of Arithmetic, which was published in 1799 and used extensively in American schools for nearly fifty years thereafter.

Nathan, who taught navigation to members of the merchant marine and the navy during the Revolutionary War, was also quite notable for the post-war maritime navigation school he founded in New London, Connecticut. There he taught navigation and nautical astronomy to as many as 1,500 sailors. In 1811, Nathan became an instructor of midshipmen on the frigate President.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away in Groton, Connecticut, in 1818, at the age of 67.

Teachers can examine the Boston Tea Party, either in person or by virtual tour

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Author Terry Lee Marzell stands in front of the museum and gift shop erected near the site of the 1773 Boston Tea Party. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Summer vacation has arrived! What are your plans for your time off? Many teachers would agree that one of the best ways to spend summer vacation is travel. It’s a great way to expand personal horizons, improve teaching practices, and engage in experiential learning. And one of the most rewarding destinations to achieve these goals is Boston, Massachusetts. There are many worthwhile museums and historical sites related to our Colonial past available for touring in the city, and one of the most interesting of them is the site of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party, which took place on Dec. 16, 1773, in Boston, was an act of protest organized by the patriotic group known as the Sons of Liberty. The action physicalized an objection to the Tea Tax imposed on the Colonials by the English Parliament. During the protest, the Americans, some dressed as Indigenous Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea waiting to be unloaded off ships anchored in the bay at Griffin’s Wharf. Chests of tea, which belonged to the East India Company, was thrown overboard into the brackish water, ruining the entire shipment. The action, which resulted in a loss that would equate to $4 million today, was declared treason by the British government, and their response was swift and harsh. The episode escalated hostilities that resulted in the American Revolution, which eventually resulted in the birth of our nation.

If visited in person, the Tea Party site offers a museum, a brief documentary about the Boston Tea Party, a gift shop, a tea house offering brews just like those that were thrown overboard, and a recreation of a period sailing vessel complete with a re-enactment of the original Boston Tea Party, conducted in an environmentally safe way, of course. The facility is open every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. There is a fee to experience the re-enactment, and I would recommend reservations.

Recreation of a Colonial-era ship involved in the Boston Tea Party is available for examination by teachers, in person or by virtual tour, who wish to improve their instructional practices. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

To explore the official Boston Tea Party website, click here. To share with your students an eyewitness account of the Boston Tea Party by participant George Hewes, click here. For access to virtual field trips related to the Boston Tea Party, as well as other related Revolutionary War events, click on this link for virtual field trips.

Whether you visit Boston’s Colonial sites in person on online, I bid you happy learning!

Teachers: Visit Boston’s Paul Revere house museum to learn more about Colonial history

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Hal Marzell stands in front of the colonial home once owned by Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere. He is famous for his legendary midnight ride to warn the colonial troops about the arrival of British troops in 1775. The structure is located in North Square in downtown Boston. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

During their summer vacations, many teachers enjoy expanding their horizons and improving their teaching practices through traveling. One of the most interesting places to do this is the city of Boston, where many historical places of interested related to US History, particularly the Colonial Period and the Revolutionary War, are located.

While on a recent vacation there, my husband Hal and I visited the house museum belonging to the Colonial patriot Paul Revere. Revere was an American silversmith, engraver, and bell manufacturer who was also a member of the group known as the Sons of Liberty. He is best remembered for the legendary midnight ride he made to alert Colonial troops about the arrival of British soldiers on April 18, 1775. What school child hasn’t heard poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous lines, “Listen, my children and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere”?

Author Terry Lee Marzell stands in the interior courtyard of the Paul Revere house museum on her recent vacation to Boston, Massachusetts. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Paul Revere owned the home at 19 North Square on the North End of Boston from 1770 to 1800. He lived in the home, which was built in 1680, with his wife and the younger children of his brood of 16. The house is downtown Boston’s oldest building and one of the few remaining 17th-century dwellings still extant in the city.

When touring the two-story home, visitors can view the colonial kitchen and family room with its warming hearth downstairs, and upstairs a master bedroom with an additional fireplace and a second bedroom. Much of the furnishings are period pieces, but there are five pieces that were once owned by the Revere family. Docents explain details about the history of the house and are available to answer questions. In the courtyard outside, one of the bronze bells cast by Paul Revere stands in an enclosed case for easy viewing.

Today, the Revere house is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Teachers who wish to visit the site during their summer vacation will find it open every day from 10:00 am to 5:15 pm. There is a small fee to enter. For those who unable to travel to Boston soon, more can be learned about Paul Revere, his midnight ride, and the house museum, by clicking on this link to The Paul Revere House. To read the entire poem about Paul Revere’s ride written by Longfellow, click on this link to poets.org.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, I wish you a joyful, fun-filled, restorative summer vacation!