Thankful for Teachers

From Flickr: Boston Public School, 1892

As my son returns to school today to begin 6th grade, I am thankful for those who dedicate their lives to educating our children. It's a tough job but so important!

I don't remember seeing any teachers in my family tree, but my husband has some relatives who spent time in front of students. This isn't a complete list, but here are eight:

• Elizabeth Lee (1852-1938) - one of three sisters who taught in Atchison County, Kansas
• Ella Lee (1857-1929) - another sister who taught in Atchison County, Kansas
• Mary Lee (1850- ) - the 1870 shows her as a teacher living in Mount Pleasant, Atchison, Kansas; I haven't been able to locate her after that year
• Luella Lewis Wiegel (1873-1957) - music teacher who lived in Elizabeth, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
• Nellie Lewis Laing (1869-1949) - teacher who lived in Elizabeth, Allegheny, Pennsylvania 
• Henry Stewart (1831-1908) - he was a Pennsylvania farmer, store clerk, salesman, and shipping clerk, but the 1860 census shows that he also was a teacher
• Mary Vance Rudy (1893-1967) - the 1930 census shows her as a "public school teacher"; newspaper articles identify her as an instructor in the Third Ward school of Canonsburg, Washington, Pennsylvania
• Gladys Vance Paul (1908-1998) - the 1930 census shows her as a "country school teacher"; a newspaper article indicates that she taught in the North Strabane school district in Washington County, Pennsylvania

Men and women who wanted to become teachers typically enrolled in a "normal school." You can find publications online from some of these schools that include lists of students and alumni. Here are just a few that I found in the HathiTrust Digital Library, and many of these have additional years as well:

• The Alumni Register, Iowa State Normal School (Cedar Falls, Iowa), 1909
• Annual Catalogue of the Indiana State Normal School (Terre Haute, Indiana), 1889-90
• Annual Catalogue of the Northwestern State Normal School (Edinboro, Pennsylvania), 1899-1900
• Annual Catalogue of the State Normal School at Duluth, Minnesota, 1904-05
• Annual Catalogue of the West Chester State Normal School of the First District (West Chester, Pennsylvania), 1887
• Circular and Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, Southwestern State Normal School (California, Pennsylvania), 1910-11

Be thankful for the teachers in your family tree! While these publications may not give you new facts about them, they provide a list of courses your teacher ancestors would have taken, giving you a peek at what their lives might have been like during the years they attended a normal school.