Tag Archives: Pioneer Teachers

Ann Wager: A 17th-century teacher in Colonial Williamsburg

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Ann Wager was a 17th-century school mistress who taught at Bray School located in Colonial Williamsburg, pictured above. Photo Credit: Ben Franklin’s World

In this country, an emphasis on the importance of education and recognition for the essential role of dedicated and hardworking teachers goes way back to our very beginnings. One of these early teachers was Ann Wager, a 17th-century school mistress who taught in Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg.

Ann Wager was born in 1716. As a young girl, she was educated by her father, despite her mother’s resistance to the idea. Ann’s mother believed it was not proper for a young woman to learn or to support herself. When she came of age, Ann married William Wager of Williamsburg, and the couple lived with their children in colonial Williamsburg. After her husband’s passing in 1748, Ann was faced with the necessity of earning a living.

As a widow, Ann inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as tutor and governess to the white children of Carter Burrell of the Carter’s Grove Plantation in Williamsburg. She held this position for two years.

In 1760 Ann was hired to teach school in the Williamsburg Bray School. This move was in response to Ben Franklin’s recommendation that the town establish a school “for the instruction of Negro Children in the Principles of the Christian religion.” The Bray school was the first school established in the colony of Virginia for African American students, which was not at that time illegal. For her work as a school mistress, Bray Charities Association paid her the salary of £20 per year, plus housing. Each year, between 20 and 30 boys and girls aged three to ten years of age were enrolled in the school, where Ann taught Anglican religious doctrine, reading, spelling, grammar, writing, and general deportment. In addition, girls were taught knitting and sewing. Ann taught lessons seven days a week.

Ann taught school in Williamsburg for 14 years. Over that period of time, she taught nearly 400 students.  Even when her health began to fail, she continued to teach until her passing on Aug. 20, 1774.

To read more about this colonial Chalkboard Champion, see this article written about her in History of American Women.

Mary Elizabeth Post: Teacher, pioneer, and women’s suffragist

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Arizona pioneer and educator Mary Elizabeth Post often she said she “was born to be a teacher.” Photo Credit: Fair Use

I enjoy sharing stories about daring pioneers who were also teachers. One such teacher was Mary Elizabeth Post, one of the first teachers to work in the Territory of Arizona. In fact, Mary was only the fifth teacher in Arizona.

Mary was born on June 17, 1841, in Elizabethtown, New York. Her father was a carpenter, but he instilled a strong love of learning in his seven children. As a youngster, Mary attended Burlingtron Female Seminary. She was so proficient in her studies that she was landed her first teaching position in 1856, when she was only 15 years old.

In 1872, Mary traveled to the Arizona Territory by stage coach. The trip was rugged, and conditions in her new environment were rough. She established her school in a building that had formerly served as a saloon. Her lessons were sometimes interrupted by thirsty cowboys looking for an alcoholic drink.

Mary soon discovered, to her dismay, that regular attendance at school was not valued by either the students or their parents. Often the intrepid teacher felt forced to track down the truants and virtually drag them back to the school, much to the disgruntlement of their parents. To overcome the hard feelings, Mary ordered a collection of sewing patterns and taught the mothers how to sew new clothes for their children. The mothers were delighted with how fashionable their children looked, and, before long, Mary saw a marked improvement in her daily attendance. Despite the importance Mary placed on attendance, historians say that the dedicated educator sent her students home during hangings that were held next to the schoolhouse instead of having them watch. This was how she showed her disapproval of the lawlessness of the Wild West.

Even though she was sometimes at odds with the community, Mary became an integral part of the Yuma residents, and to become very involved in the lives of her students and their families, almost all of Mexican heritage. She was often invited to their family events and celebrations. “I was in love with my work,” Mary once expressed. “I think I was born to be a teacher.”

In addition to her untiring work in the classroom, Mary was active in local women’s organizations, and she was an outspoken proponent of the women’s suffrage movement. Mary retired from teaching in 1912, at the age of 72. She became the first recipient of the Arizona state teachers’ retirement fund. Her pension was $50 a month. In 1918, this Chalkboard Champion and pioneer was awarded an honorary Master’s degree from the University of Arizona in recognition of her humanitarian work in predominantly Spanish-speaking communities.

Mary Elizabeth Post passed away from natural causes in 1934. She was 93 years old. You can read more about this amazing educator at tucson.com in the article Western Movement: Mary Elizabeth Post.

Teacher Elaine Goodall Eastman: the “Sister to the Sioux”

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Teacher Elaine Goodall Eastman, who described herself as a Sister to the Sioux, established a day school on a Sioux Indian reservation in the territory of South Dakota. Photo Credit: Boston University

Many talented and dedicated educators have devoted themselves to working for disenfranchised groups of students. One of these was Elaine Goodale Eastman, who often described herself as a “Sister to the Sioux.”

When she was just a young woman, Elaine, originally from Massachusetts, established a day school on a Sioux Indian reservation in the territory of South Dakota. Contrary to prevailing opinion of her day, she believed very strongly that it was best to keep Native American children at home rather than transport them far away from their families to Indian boarding schools. She hadn’t taught on the reservation very long when she was promoted to the position of Superintendent of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas. In this capacity, she travelled throughout the five Dakota reservations, visiting the more than 60 government and missionary schools within her jurisdiction, and writing detailed evaluation reports on each school she visited.

It was because of her work that Elaine just happened to be visiting the Pine Ridge Reservation when the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre took place. As a result of this tragedy, more than 200 men, women, and children from the Lakota tribe were killed, and another 51 were wounded. In addition, 25 government soldiers were also killed, most by “friendly fire,” and another 39 were wounded. Following the massacre, Elaine and her fiance,  physician Charles Eastman of the Santee Sioux tribe, cared for the survivors and wrote detailed government reports to accurately describe what happened.

In her later years, when America was experiencing a back-to-nature revival, Elaine and her husband operated Indian-themed summer camps in New Hampshire. Read more of the life story of this fascinating educator in Theodore D. Sargent’s biography The Life of Elaine Goodale Eastman, or an encapsulated version in my book,  Chalkboard Champions: Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students, both available on amazon.

Pioneer, author, and rural schoolteacher Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Pioneer and author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the popular Little House series, once worked as a teacher in a rural one-room schoolhouse. Photo Credit: Public Domain

Most Americans have heard of famous author and pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder. They have either read her Little House books, or they have watched the syndicated television series called Little House on the Prairie, which was based on her books and was popular in the 1970s. But did you know that Laura was once a rural school teacher?

When Laura was a child, her family relocated frequently to wilderness areas, because her father wanted to indulge his desire to settle land in unknown territory. The Ingalls family traveled into thick woods, across vast prairies, through raging rivers, and over icy waters in their covered wagon. Their journeys included settlements in Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Iowa. Finally, the family settled in De Smet, South Dakota, where her father claimed a homestead. These pioneer experiences became the source material for Laura’s children’s books, which have been read by millions over the 60 years they have been in print.

Laura was only 16 years old in Dec., 1883, when she took an examination with the county school superintendent and was granted her teaching certificate. She taught her first term at the Bouchie school, a rural one-room schoolhouse, that winter. She taught her second term in the spring of 1884, and her final term in the spring of 1885.

Laura’s first teaching job was a difficult one fort her. Her school was located in a small settlement 12 miles away from her family’s home, and she boarded in the home of a family who was always arguing. The students she was expected to teach were nearly her own age, and Laura felt that she had little control over her class. Laura was also very homesick.

After Laura married her husband, Almonzo Wilder, she left the teaching profession. But she continued her work as an educator by home-schooling her one surviving child, Rose Wilder.

Teacher Abby Hemenway a pioneer in publishing

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Abby Hemenway, who once taught school in Michigan, earned acclaim as an author and pioneering publisher of local histories. Photo Credit: Public Domain

Abby Hemenway, a 19th-century educator in Michigan, earned acclaim as an author and pioneering publisher of local histories. Because of her efforts, the concept of history as a social science became universally accepted.

Abby was born on Oct. 7, 1828, in Ludlow, Vermont. After her graduation from Black River Academy, she relocated to Michigan in 1853, where she became a teacher. After teaching for three years, she returned to Vermont, where she explored an interest in writing and publishing. In 1858 the former teacher published a volume of poems written by Green Mountain State writers entitled Poets and Poetry of Vermont. The volume enjoyed so much success that Abby founded a new publication, the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, with the goal of publishing a local history for every city and hamlet in her state.

Before Abby’s day, the customary topics for publishing involved biographies of famous military and political men, and stories about the historical events in which they took part. Abby pioneered the practice of chronicling everyday activities of average citizens, rather than focusing only on prominent individuals and events. She published these stories in her Gazetteer.

After 30 years of hard work, six volumes of her Gazetteer were published, all between the years of 1860 and 1892. These volumes include local histories of 13 of the 14 counties in Vermont. The only county not included is Windsor County. The Gazetteer is still used today as the primary resource for 18th and 19th-century Vermont state history. The volumes include valuable information such as the names and terms of service for local office holders, genealogical information for early Caucasian residents, and the names and terms of service for local clergy.

Abby accomplished her goals in a period of time when women were expected to marry and raise families. In fact, she was frequently told that “history is not suitable work for a woman.” Nevertheless, she persevered, despite considerable adversity. Because of her pioneering efforts, the concept of history as a social science is now universally accepted.

Sadly, on Feb., 24, 1890, Abby Hemenway passed away in Chicago, Illinois, after suffering a stroke. She was 61 years old. This Chalkboard Champion’s story is explored more fully in a 2001 biography entitled The Passion of Abby Maria Hemenway by Deborah Picman Clifford.