Teachers at Fairview

1893-1907

There exists a complete record of the teachers at Fairview from 1893 to 1907 in school registers and district clerk's record books. Here is a list of twenty teachers with their approximate ages and their terms of service:

Sources: school registers (1893-1907), district clerk's record books (1895-1907), local news articles (1894-1903).

Apparently no school was taught at Fairview in Spring 1901, Fall 1902, and Fall 1903. In May 1901 the VanSchoiack children enrolled at Dorena School. (CG Leader, May 17, 1901, "Dorena") Also, an early term was taught at Fairview in Fall 1901 (from August to September) so that Bessie Patten attended school in the Shields district the next month. (CG Leader, Oct. 25, 1901, "Mosby Creek")

The names of the teachers are color-coded to show their marital status: green for "married," maroon for "later married", and blue for "never married." Of the twenty teachers, only three were married when they taught at Fairview. Ernest Purvance and Nellie Currin later married each other, while Lewis McKeel (a widower) later married Sarah Hickey who had attended Fairview as a student, and Frances Dugan later married Fred Patten who also had been a Fairview student. Six of the teachers never married.

For several of the teachers, Fairview was their first school teaching assignment. From available records, this would seem to have been the case for Laura Sears, Dora Myers, Olive Owen, Ernest Purvance, and Winfield Bennett, if not others. Those with extensive teaching experience, like J.W. Abbott and Emma Damewood, were the exception.

Biographical Sketches

T1. Laura Etta Sears (1874-1898)

Laura Etta Sears, born August 29, 1874 near Cottage Grove, Oregon, was the daughter of George Thomas Sears (1844-1911) and Sarah Ann Wallace (1844-1929). George Sears came from Arkansas to Oregon in 1852 with his family (Carroll J. Sears was his father). Sarah Wallace arrived in 1865 from Missouri via California. Laura's parents were married in 1870. Laura was their first child; she had a younger brother named George Ralph Sears (1882-1966).

Laura Sears taught seven months at Fairview. She was paid $35 a month to teach approximately 25 students ranging in age from 5 to 16 years old. Absences were frequent (about 30%), especially among the youngest and oldest students. Laura reported only one case of corporal punishment. The school directors made six visits, the county superintendent none.

Laura married Sherman Stockton Morse on November 28, 1895 at her father's house. Their marriage was cut short by Laura's death in 1898. According to her obituary: "[Laura] died at Creswell, Oregon May 16, 1898 of heart failure, aged 24 years. The death of Mrs. Morss was very sudden and totally unexpected. She had been in her usual health and was found dead in the garden by her husband on his return from work. The deceased was a daughter of George Sears of Walker." Laura was buried at Walker Cemetery.

T2. Dora C. Myers (1874-1902)

Dora C. Myers, born in November, 1874 in Nebraska, was the daughter of Elijah A. Myers (1842-1923) and Cordelia Amanda _____ (1854-1927). Elijah, born in New Jersey, served with the Pennsylvania volunteers (Co. A, 52nd) during the Civil War. According to his obituary: "He joined the Army under General McClellan in 1862 at the age of 18, served two years and was disabled and sent home to his parents in Pennsylvania; returned to his regiment and was again disabled...." He met and married Cordelia, a native of Iowa, between 1871 and 1873. On their way further west, Dora's family first moved to Rockerville, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota) by 1880 where her father was a placerminer, then to Washington by 1881, and to Westport, California by 1886. They arrived in the Cottage Grove, Oregon area sometime before December, 1890 when a wedding took place at her father's house and Dora was one of the witnesses. In July, 1892 her father appears in mining records as a partner with Joe Cole and Scott Chrisman in the "Rattler" claim, Bohemia Mining District. Dora had one sister, Amanda "Mattie" E. [Satterwhite] (1876-1961), and three brothers, Walter Andrew (1879-1951), Charles F. (1881-1920), and Clyde Cedric (1886-after 1942). One other sibling died before 1900.

Dora Myers taught a three-month Spring term at Fairview in 1894. The Hickey children began attending during her stay. The school register shows daily attendance of about 25 students for the first two months; after "Decoration Day" attendance fell to about 15 students. In a column labeled "deportment" students were evaluated on their behavior at the end of each month and for the term, with scores from 70 to 97. The school register also listed the branches (subjects) taught to each student. In addition to the main branches or reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic, several students were also taught geography (14) and grammer (7), while a few received instruction in history (4), mental arithmetic (3), and physiology (1).

The following Spring she taught at Latham, and a year later her name is mentioned in the "Mosby Creek" items of the local newspaper: "Our school is progressing nicely under the management of Miss Dora Myers." While she probably taught at still other area schools, by the 1900 census (taken in June) she was living with her parents in La Grande, Oregon, listed as a school teacher. Less than two years later, on January 7, 1902, Dora died "at the home of her parents." The cause of death was not given. Shortly after, the rest of her family moved to Portland, Oregon, then by 1907 to Leavenworth, Washington.

T3. Olive Jane Owen (1874-1944)

Olive Jane "Ollie" Owen, born December 16, 1874 (probably) in Linn County, Oregon, was the daughter of Robert S. Owen (1833-between 1900/1905) and Amelia "Millie" Newman (1851-1918). Robert Owen, born in Virginia, served in the Pennsylvania infantry (Co. K, 65th) at the close of the Civil War, and suffered from "lung disease and catarrh of the head" as a result. He came to Oregon sometime before 1873, when he married Millie Newman in Linn County. Millie's father Henry Newman brought his family from Adams Co., Ohio to Clarksville, Iowa by 1860 and to Oregon by 1870.

Olive Owen's obituary claimed that she was "a life-long resident of Lane County." However, from deed records, it would appear that the Owen family moved to Lane County about 1886 and settled in the Cottage Grove area. By 1894 their residence is given as Bluff, located between Star and Wildwood. Olive had one sister, Mary Dee [Munroe] (1884-1972), and four brothers, Edward Forest (1876-1941), Lynden D. (1879-1919), Thomas Clifton (1881-1902), and Robert Glenn (1893-after 1942).

Olive Owen taught the Fall term at Fairview in 1894. Several of the older boys did not start attending until the second month (i.e., middle of October). By the third month attendance was again up to about 25 students. On December 15 the local newspaper reported: "Miss Ollie Owen will finish her term of school at Fair View this week. She may teach one month more before she returns home." [Instead James Abbott was hired for the next month.]

In 1900 Olive was a school teacher in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. She lived there with her parents and siblings. Olive later taught at Star School (1905) near her home. In 1910 she was living with her brother's family near Portland. By 1918 she had moved to Eugene. She was postmistress at Signal from 1927 to 1938, when the post office there was discontinued. About that time Olive returned to Eugene where she died at the hospital October 11, 1944. She was buried at Pioneer Cemetery in the Owen family plot.

T4. James Watson Abbott (1860-after 1910)

James Watson Abbott, born in February of 1860 in Athens Co., Ohio, was the son of John Abbott (1822-1889) and Mahala Brown (1826-1875). As a young man he went by his middle name Watson. He began his teaching career in Ohio: the 1880 census lists him as a school teacher in Meigs Co., Ohio. He married Anna (or Annie) Becker Nov. 19, 1884 in Plymouth Co., Iowa. She was born in August of 1866 (year estimated) in Galena, Jo Daviess Co., Illinois, the daughter of Fredoline Becker (1829-1909) and Kathrina Hefty (1831-1886), immigrants from Switzerland.

For several years following their marriage James taught in nearby schools, first in Nobles Co., Minnesota, then in Lyon Co., Iowa. As late as 1893 he was principal in George, Lyon Co., Iowa. During this period four children were born to them, but only these three survived infancy: Minnie Patti, born March 17, 1887, in Ellsworth, Nobles Co., Minnesota; Emma U., March 23, 1889, also in Nobles Co., Minnesota; and Edwin Lewis, May 3, 1891, in George, Lyon Co., Iowa.

By late 1894 the family had arrived in Lane Co., Oregon. James taught over one year at Fairview, from December 24, 1894 until January 28, 1896. Three new families enrolled their children in 1895: the Jasper Patten family, the Beardon family, and the Dudley Shields family. During the Spring term another child was born to the Abbott family, Frederick Everett, April 10, 1895, which coincides with a message on the school register: "Sickness--No school till Monday 15th." The following month another significant message appears on May 6: "Funeral--No School." This may refer to the death of "the little daughter of William Chapman [who] died May 4, aged 15 months." (Cottage Grove Echo-Leader, 5-11-1895)

James Abbott's three oldest children attended Fairview; Minnie attended the entire year while Emma and Edwin began their schooling the Fall 1895 term. Usually referred to as J.W. Abbott, he later taught at the Bedrock school (Spring 1896), at Cottage Grove (1899), and at Saginaw (1900).

The Abbott family moved to San Francisco, California sometime before 1903, where another son was born: Harold Henry, January 7, 1903. Until 1910 there is no record that James Abbott taught again; instead he is listed as laborer (1903-1904), lumberman (1908) and stevedore (1909). Then a double tragedy struck the family in 1907: their daughter Emma died Aug. 1, and the marriage of James and Anna came to an end in divorce later that same year.

Soon after James Abbott apparently left San Francisco and moved temporarily to New Castle, Placer Co., California: he appears there in the 1910 census as a boarder with Samuel Mack at a Southern Pacific Railroad Construction Camp, and a teacher in the public school. Unfortunately this is where his story ends. After 1910 he completely disappears from all the sources of information I have researched. The fact that Anna repeatedly claims to be a widow in various public records from 1908 forward is challenged by his enumeration in the 1910 census. As one descendent expressed, "It was our understanding he deserted the family and nobody ever heard from him again."

Anna Abbott and her children continued to live in San Francisco for several decades. Anna died April 13, 1960, well over 90 years old. The children's dates and places of death are listed after the source notes below.

T5. George Franklin King (1873-1927)

George Franklin King (nickname Frank), born October 27, 1873 near Enfield, White Co., Illinois, was the son of Edgar King (1850-1916) and Alcia A. Miller (1852-1883). George had a brother, Alta Harvey King (1875-1951), and a sister, Rhoda E. King Davison (1878-1955). His mother Alcia died before the family left Illinois for Oregon, but three of her brothers settled in Cottage Grove, Oregon: George M. Miller, Perkins Miller, and Malachi (Mala) Miller. His father remarried, first to Martha Ann Hays in 1884, second to Selina Smith in 1891, then brought the family to Cottage Grove in 1893.

Frank King taught twice at Fairview: the Spring term in 1896 and the Fall term in 1897. Enrollment at Fairview declined from its peak of 33 during Abbott's first term to 26 by King's first term, then to 18 by his second. Three families had left the school district at the end of the Spring 1895 term: the Alden Hoyt family, the Wallace McKibben family, and the Bona Patten family. The last family was probably excluded from the district by boundaries redrawn in 1895.

On September 22, 1898 Frank was married to Ida C. Lincoln, the daughter of William Henry Lincoln (1841-1911) and Mary Jane Desotell (1846-1928), at her father's house in Cottage Grove. She was born November 12, 1878 in Grundy Co., Iowa, and came with her parents to Oregon in 1890. Frank and Ida had six children: Idalia M. (1899-1969), Rydal Nondis (1901-1939), Arna Bethel (1903-1932), Justin Lincoln (1907-1984), Destel E. (1918-1997), and Galen F. (1921-1996).

Frank King very likely taught at other schools during the period 1897 to 1900, but any record of them has not been found. According to his obituary in the Cottage Grove Sentinel, "He taught for several terms in schools in neighboring districts." By the 1900 census he had taken on a new occupation as telegraph operator at Albany, Oregon, and by 1901 he had added work as agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad at Shedd, Oregon. He would continue with this dual line of work at several different locations for the remainder of his life: Saginaw 1903-1905, Comstock 1905-1907, Cottage Grove 1908-1912, Culver 1916-1919, Redmond 1921-1927.

Frank and Ida moved their family to central Oregon in 1916. Each of their three oldest daughters taught in the area schools. At the beginning of 1927 Frank "resided [near Redmond] a short distance north of town and was employed at the railroad station as operator and express agent." Said to be overworked, Frank contracted pneumonia and died, after several days illness, January 13, 1927, age 53. He was buried in Redmond Cemetery.

Return to home page

© 2001, 2008 Charles Hudson