Tag Archives: Pioneer Teachers

Chalkboard Champion and pioneer Carrie McLain of Alaska

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Chalkboard Champion Carrie McLain of Nome, Alaska, published a slender volume of her memories in Pioneer Teacher: Turn of the Century Classroom in Remote Northwestern Alaska. Photo credit: Public domain

Throughout American history, there are many Chalkboard Champions who were essential in the settling our country’s wilderness territories. One of these was Carrie McLain, a pioneer teacher in the wilderness territory of Nome, Alaska.

Carrie was born on January 26, 1895, in Astoria, Long Island, New York. When she was just a child of ten, her father moved Carrie and her four siblings to the fledgling village of Nome on the ice-crusted coast of northwestern Alaska. There she grew to adulthood and became a neophyte teacher at a pioneer school on the Seward Penninsula. During those years, she also married and reared a family of one son and three daughters.

Carrie tells the fascinating story of her provincial life in Alaska in Pioneer Teacher: Turn of the Century Classroom in Remote Northwestern Alaska. Anyone interested in learning more about her rugged existence on the frigid Alaskan frontier would be interested in reading the slender volume  (it’s only 70 pages, including photographs). The book, published in 1970, can be found on amazon at this link: Pioneer Teacher. She also wrote Gold Rush Nome, which is only 46 pages in length, published in 1969, can also be found on amazon. This book offers a first-hand account of the Alaskan Gold Rush and how it influenced the growth and character of Nome. In addition to Carrie’s text, the volume contains 23 pages of black and white photographs.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on May 30, 1973, at Palmer Pioneers Home, and was buried in Nome. The of Nome dedicated a community museum in her honor.  The Carrie McLain Museum highlights the history of Nome and Western Alaska. Many of the institution’s more than 15,000 artifacts are relates to gold-rush days, including racks of mining equipment, historical documents, and photo albums.

Isabelle Salmon Ross: Settler and Pioneer for PE

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Isabelle Salmon Ross: Settler and pioneer for physical education for women and special education students. Photo credit: BYU Library

Many wonderful teachers were also pioneers in their time. Such is the case of Isabelle Salmon Ross, who was not only a settler in the Utah Territory in the 1800s, but was also a pioneer of physical education courses for women and special education students during her lifetime.

Isabelle Salmon was born on November 1, 1867, in Perry, Utah Territory. Her parents, William Weir Salmon and Margaret Hay Hunter Salmon, had immigrated from Scotland. Isabelle earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education at the University of Utah. She also attended Harvard University. After college, she became a physical education teacher in the public school system in Salt Lake City, at Brigham Young College, and at the Utah State School for the Deaf and the Blind in Ogden, Utah.

Isabelle was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She served her church in the general presidency of the Primary organization. While working in that capacity, Isabelle met and fell in love with fellow Mormon Charles James Ross. On September 29, 1897, the pair married in the Salt Lake Temple. Her husband was from Ogden and was a member of the general board of the Deseret Sunday School Union. He also served for a time as the manager of Ogden Tabernacle Choir.

In her later life, Isabelle suffered from coronary heart disease. Sadly, she passed away on December 28, 1947, in Salt Lake City. She was 80 years old. She is interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

North Dakota’s Laura Eisenhuth Alming: Teacher, Pioneer, Politician

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Laura Eisenhuth Alming: Teacher, pioneer, politician

Many talented classroom teachers also find success as politicians. One of these is Laura Eisenhuth Alming, a 19th century educator who was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of North Dakota.

Laura was born on May 29, 1859, in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada. She was just a toddler when her family moved to DeWitt, Iowa. As a young woman, she completed college courses and then accepted a teaching position at DeWitt High School.

The young educator first traveled to Dakota Territory in the summer of 1885. There she staked a claim on 160 acres of land near the town of New Rockford. She continued to live and teach in Iowa for the next two years, returning to her Dakota homestead for the summers. In 1882, the pioneer teacher married Willis Eisenhuth, a fellow teacher who had moved from Pennsylvania to Carrington, North Dakota. In Dakota he established and operated a drugstore.

After her marriage, Laura, already a veteran educator with 11 years of experience under her belt, accepted a position as a temporary teacher in Carrington. There she taught 80 students in a one-room schoolhouse. The next year she was re-hired, but fortunately the townspeople acquired an assistant to help with instructional activities.

Carrington’s citizens were so impressed with Laura’s work in the classroom that they elected her Superintendent of Schools for North Dakota’s Foster County in 1889. During the years she held this office, the innovative educator organized and oversaw a series of teacher-training institutes to improve public school instruction.

In 1892, Laura was elected her state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this period of history, women in the United States enjoyed very few voting privileges. In North Dakota, women could vote only on school issues. In her position as Superintendent, Laura continued to emphasize professional development. She also championed improved hygiene in schools and supported the introduction of fencing into the curriculum.

When Laura’s husband became very ill, Laura resigned from her office to focus on helping him recuperate. She found employment as a teacher and an Assistant Principal of Carrington High School. Her husband passed away in 1902. Five years later, Laura married Ludwig Alming, and the newlyweds moved to Jacksonville, Oregon. Laura lived the rest of her life there.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on September 30, 1937, in Medford, Oregon. She is interred in Siskiyou Memorial Park.

To read more about Laura Eisenhuth Alming, see this article printed in the Bismarck Tribune.

Marie Antoinette Bennette: Pioneer teacher and doctor

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Marie Antoinette Bennette was a trailblazer, not only in the field of education, but also in the field of medicine.

There are many women in the history of the United States who have been trailblazers, not only in the teaching profession, but in other professions as well. One of these was Marie Antoinette Bennette, a California school teacher who was also a pioneer as a doctor.

Marie was born on November 25, 1858, one of four daughters of David and Maria Bennett. Her parents were immigrant ranchers of French descent. To honor her French heritage, Marie added an “e” at the end of her last name

As a young girl, Marie’s family transplanted themselves from Illinois to Single Springs in El Dorado County, California. Marie’s parents saw to it that their daughters received more education than was the norm for young ladies of the day. After her graduation from high school in Shingle Springs, Marie enrolled at San Jose Normal School, the first institution of higher learning established in California to train new teachers. Once she completed her education there, Marie moved to San Bernardino in southern California. There she became a well-respected teacher and, eventually, a principal.

Despite her success as an educator,  Marie longed to become a doctor. While still working in the classroom, she studied medicine at night as an apprentice to Dr. W. H. Fox. Dr Fox earned notoriety as the first president of the San Bernardino County Medical Society. Eventually, Marie was able to enroll in medical school at Cooper Medical College. This institution later became the Stanford School of Medicine. On Nov. 11, 1885, Marie graduated from Cooper, with honors. Thus, Marie became the first female Californian to earn a medical diploma. Not content to finalize her education there, Marie continued her studies at the medical college and hospital clinic of Philadelphia. There she completed post-graduate work specializing in women’s and children’s diseases. She then  returned to Oakland, where she established her first medical practice. She also became a Mrs., having married newspaper editor Will Nash.

In August, 1990, the adventurous couple traveled to Alaska, where Marie opened a hospital in the mining town of Porcupine. Three years later, Marie and Will moved to southeastern Arizona and settled in Bisbee, where Will accepted a position as the editor of the Tombstone Epitaph.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on July 28, 1937, at the age of 78. She is buried in Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in Shingle Springs, California.

Teacher Susan Mills: She founded the first women’s college in California

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When we think about women in American history, we can find many examples of extraordinary women educators. One of these was Susan Tolman Mills, a secondary school teacher who established the first women’s college in California.

Susan Mills founded the first women’s college in California.

Susan was born on Nov. 18, 1825, in Enosburg, Vermont. One of eight children, she was the daughter of homesteaders who operated a thriving business. Her father owned a tannery and her mother was a homemaker. Susan’s mother was especially insistent that her six daughters get an education, and after the family relocated to Ware, Massachusettes, all the daughters attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Following her graduation, Susan taught classes in science and theology there for three years.

In 1848, the young educator married Cyrus Taggart Mills, a Presbyterian missionary. The adventurous newlyweds traveled to Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. Cyrus became the principal of a seminary for boys, while Susan taught domestic skills to girls in the local schools.

In 1860, the couple moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they took charge of the Punahou School. There Susan taught geography, geology, chemistry, and botany. She introduced physical education to the female students. She also dedicated her energy to improving the food choices and other amenities provided by the school.

In 1864, Susan and Cyrus returned to the United States and landed in California. They had ambitions of establishing a school of their own. Their goal was to provide equal education and opportunities for women. The year after their arrival in the state they purchased a girls’ seminary in Benicia, just east of Vallejo in Solano County. They named their institution Mills Seminary. The couple spent several years improving their school by expanding the number of course offerings and recruiting qualified teachers. In 1871, they sold this property and moved their school to Oakland, on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. This new facility, with four-story buildings, dining halls, and a high central observatory named Mills Hall, was long considered the most beautiful education building in California. Eventually the girls’ school established by the Mills was transformed into Mills College, the first women’s college in the state. The college still serves young women as a liberal arts college to this day. After Susan’s beloved husband passed away, Susan continued to serve as the principal of Mills College, expertly performing her administrative duties.

In 1901, Susan was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Mount Holyoke, recognizing her extraordinary contributions to education. At the time, the trustees of Punahou commented that Susan, “met and overcame obstacles with equanimity; she accomplished great work with poor facilities; she drew her inspiration from the dull routine of a busy life.”

Susan Mills retired in 1909 at the age of 84. She passed away three years later, on December 12, 1912, in her home, the Vermont cape house she and her husband had built on the Mills campus. This talented and industrious educator was interred at Sunnyside Cemetery, located on the college grounds.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this entry for her in the Encyclopedia Brittanica.