Willow Creek School Teachers 1898 - mid--1950s

One of my Willow Creek school classmates sent me a PDF of the 1848-1948 Centennial program for Willow Creek school.  My great-grandmother, Mrs. Arthur (Jessie) Agard, gave the historical sketch; the keynote address was given by Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey, Professor of Agriculture, Emeritus and Director of Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University.*

The program listed the trustees and teachers from the year 1898 through 1948. Those educators in the one (then two) room rural schoolhouse were:

1898-99 - Rose A. Troy

1899-00 – Charles F. Smith

1900-01 – Grace I. Bardwell

1901-03 – Lottie M. Eddy

1903-04 – Gertrude E. Mortimer

1904-05 – Bertha Blauvelt

1905-06 – Cora Drummond

1906-07 – Eleanor D. Smith

1907-08 – Nellie Grey Wilson

1909-12 – Leah H. Clark

1912-13 – Ella M. Pierce

1913-16 – Pearl I. Houston

1916-17 – Gyda T. Rumsey

1917-31 – Sarah Tichenor

1931-33 – Esther Hopkins

1933-37 – Alice Viele  (Married Bill Agard in 1937; Alice died in 1939)

1937-41 – Marion La Rue (Married Bill Agard in 1941)

1941-43 – Ruth Holley

1943-46 – Lydia Sears

1946-48 – Marion Evans (tenure lasted until school was closed in mid-1950s)

With a couple of exceptions it is interesting to see in the early years teacher tenure lasted one year.  Since only one was male, I suspect the females got married. It would be interesting to confirm why these women left after only one year.  Another project to add to my list!

* What’s a Hortorium? Here is the description from the Cornell University website.

“Founded by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1935, the Hortorium has historically been the major U. S. center for the systematics of cultivated plants. Today, the Hortorium's mission has expanded to include systematic studies of wild and cultivated plants, ethnobotany, molecular systematics, paleobotany, phylogenetic theory, biodiversity studies, and pharmaceutical studies of tropical plants.”