TEACHING IN THE BAY AREA:
THREE WOMEN'S CAREERS, 1868-1894
A University Thesis Presented to the Faculty
of
California State University, Hayward
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in History
By
Jennifer A. Filzen
December, 1996
Copyright
@ Jennifer A. Filzen
11
1996
Acknowledgements
Many thanks goes to the guidance of those who helped me complete this final
project of my Master of Arts in History. I truly appreciate the reassurance and patience
of Drs. Judith Stanley and Dee Andrews during this long process. I also owe immense
gratitude to the extremely helpful staff of the University of California at Berkeley,
Bancroft Library; most notably David Kessler and Raymond Stokes, for the hours they
devoted to help me aquire the primary materials. Without them, my time spent on the
thesis would easily have tripled.
I wish to also thank the American History professors of the California State
University at Hayward and the Social Sciences and Education professors of the Florida
State University who gave me the skills and shortcuts needed to travel the golden road
of academia.
Most importantly, I thank those individuals who have been with me through
the joys and frustrations of my academic career: my parents, Larry and Lydia Filzen
for their cheerleading, generous pride and support; and my faithful, loving, and patient
companion, Craig Larsen. Without your kindness, understanding, the occasional
shoulder, and encouragement, it would have been an even longer road to completion.
111
THREE WOMEN TEACHERS
IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, 1859-1894
By
Jennifer A. Filzen
Approved:
Date:
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Table of Contents
Page
Introduction
Chapter One
Teaching in a Changing Frontier
Chapter Two
The Elizabeth Powell Diaries, 1854-1916
18
Chapter Three
The Clara Burt Joumal, 1875-1896
36
Chapter Four
The Sarah Treat Child Collection,
1885-1920
57
Chapter Five
Conclusion
80
Bibliography
4
86
v
1
Introduction
This study intends to introduce three female teachers whose lives reveal
aspects of women's struggles in late-nineteenth century California. Elizabeth Powell,
Clara Burt, and Sarah Treat Child collectively worked in an evolving California school
system in the greater San Francisco Bay area from the late 1860s through the 1890s.
Their personal manuscripts show how societal ideologies played a major part in their
career decisions, their lifestyles, and their feminine world-view.
By using their personal memoirs recording numerous events from their daily
lives, this study examines their careers as teachers: how they were schooled for the
profession; the requirements they needed to obtain teaching positions; the methods they
used to teach; their working and living conditions; how their personal lives were
affected by their careers; the bureaucratic constraints they endured; and their own
general impressions of their students and the communities in which they worked and
lived. All three women worked in a rapidly changing school system that became
increasingly organized and affected their autonomy as decision-makers in the
classroom. In fact, the school system was changing so fast that each teacher
experienced a drastically different work environment though the years they worked
were fairly close and overlapped. Through each chapter, one notices in varying
degrees how teaching changed over time and how the perception of "self' changed for
each woman.
Looking at their world through their eyes, we see: the Cult of True
Womanhood ideology, and later, the "New Woman" ideology, affected their
perceptions of their themselves. All three women reveal how the expectations of the
communities from which they came influenced their religious beliefs and practices,
2
their views on marriage, and what constituted their identities as "true" women.
Elizabeth Powell spent much of her time praying for a husband as if she did not feel
"complete" without having a man in her life to provide for her the home and family she
always wanted. Clara Burt was more content than Powell to remain single, yet she
sought fulfillment of "true womanhood" by being a "mothering nurturer" to her pupils.
Sarah Treat Child struggled with the expectations that a "true" woman be religious,
which she was not, and seek marriage, which she resisted for approximately six years.
This study will reveal that these women's real life experiences were not only shaped by
belief in conventional ideas of womanhood, but that they created a certain tension
between what Powell, Burt, and Child thought they ought to be and what they were:
hard working professionals.
This study of Powell, Burt, and Child is organized as follows: Chapter one
describes the background in which they worked, including how they were educated;
the events that enabled women to dominate the teaching profession; how California's
schools changed from rustic schoolhouses on the frontier to highly-organized school
districts with well-developed curricula and a professional hierarchy; how salaries for
women teachers in the San Francisco area compared to women in other regions of the
country, and how women advanced within the teaching profession. The main body of
the thesis, Chapters Two, Three, and Four, will detail the lives of Powell, Burt, and
Child respectively, during the years they kept their diaries or correspondence. These
chapters will place the three women in their own times and show what life was like for
each teacher. Finally, the concluding chapter will recount the main points made in the
thesis regarding the evolution of teaching and each woman's experiences.
In this way, we can come to better understand these teachers' perspectives on
teaching and their roles as women. Working in an area of California that experienced
3
such tremendous growth and change created high demands for women teachers.
Chapter one will begin with a foundation describing how women entered teaching and
how the state public school system grew from a crude, unorganized system to a highlyinstitutionalized and hierarchical one.
4
Chapter One
Teaching in a Changing Frontier
The field of teaching in the United States changed dramatically during the
nineteenth century as many men left the profession and women replaced them. The
combination of a rapidly expanding population, educational reform that advocated
women's particular suitability for teaching, longer school terms, the increased demand
for qualified teachers, and the broadening of the woman's sphere that allowed women
to work outside the home, all help to account for the greater number of women in the
teaching profession.
By the mid-nineteenth century, there were sufficient numbers of educated
women available to respond to national needs for teachers thanks to the enhanced
educational opportunities for American women in the post-Revolutionary era. The
advancement of women's education was brought about after the American Revolution
by the notion that women needed to be educated in order to help preserve the integrity
of the new republic. This idea, termed "Republican Motherhood, "I advocated the
education of women so that they might raise their sons to be upstanding patriotic
citizens; it quickly led to improvements in women's education. For women to teach
their children about the essence of patriotism, they needed to be educated themselves.
The first Ladies' Academies or Seminaries designed to prepare Republican Mothers
opened in the Northeast in the late eighteenth century, and the number of these
institutions grew in the nineteenth century. The academies required teachers, and
ISee Linda Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary
America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), and Mary Beth Norton, Liberty's
Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women. 1750-1800 (Boston: Little, Brown,
and Company, 1980) for more information regarding the ideology of "Republican Motherhood."
5
expansion in public education in the century also stimulated a demand for teachers;
women came increasingly to be seen as ideal candidates for these positions. The very
idea of women as educator in the home was an important support for the notion of
woman as educator outside the home. Another nineteenth-century development, the
emergence of what Barbara Welter has called the "Cult of True Womanhood,"
provided additional impetus for movement of women into the teaching profession.
The Cult of True Womanhood emphasized the aspects that told women what
they must do to be "respectable. ,,2 A true woman was pious, pure, domestic, and
submissive. She provided moral leadership in and outside the home; most importantly,
she nurtured and educated her children in morality and virtue. "True Womanhood" led
women educators like Catharine Beecher, Mary Lyon, and Emma Willard, to argue that
women would be excellent teachers.
Catharine Beecher, with the powerful influence of her lectures and
publications in the 1830s, combined "True Womanhood" with the nineteenth-century
advances in women's education to promote women teachers. Beecher argued that
educated women made better wives and mothers; highlighting the "nurturing" and
"mothering" characteristics of teaching, she encouraged the entry of many women in
the profession and placed legions of women teachers in the West. Beecher used those
aspects of "True Womanhood" that emphasized women's "natural" docile and
nurturing qualities. She proposed that women had a duty to be teachers because their
natural role as mothers suited them for the care of young children. 3
2For information on the Cult of True Womanhood, see Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True
Womanhood, 1820-1860," Women and Womanhood in AmeriCI!, Ronald W. Hogeland and Aileen S.
Kraditor, eds. (London: D. C. Heath and Company, 1973),103.
3See Kathryn Kish Sklar, "Catharine Beecher: Transforming the Teaching Profession,"
Women's America: Refocusing the Past, Linda K. Kerber and Jane De Hart Mathews, eds. (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1982), 140.
6
Thus, the profession of teaching was seen as appropriate for women because it
preserved society's standards for them: women teachers were surrogate mothers who
instructed and nurtured their young pupils. Women teachers brought important values
to children and did so without really challenging the socially-drawn boundaries of the
private and public spheres, which assigned women to the home. Since women in the
teaching profession were not threatening man's public world of work, they were
allowed to work in public also. Through teaching, women gained entree to the
workforce because they maintained values of submissiveness, domesticity, piety, and
purity while drawing a paycheck.
In the 1830s, Beecher encouraged poor and rich women to teach by
highlighting the benefits teaching afforded. For example, poor women would gain
financial independence and social status while rich women would be emancipated from
"suppressed" social customs--strictures against working for payor volunteering for a
civic cause--and enabled them to engage in socially useful employments. Beecher
hoped that the feminization of teaching would create a profession where socioeconomic status was not important, women's work was made "true and noble," and
women's presence set or influenced the moral tone of the community.4
Once they were convinced that teaching was their "calling," women who
studied directly under Beecher and who moved to the West were trained to overcome
the difficulties of teaching in less developed areas on the frontier so that they might
"save" their country from ignorance and immorality.5 Women teachers who
committed themselves to work in frontier environments were taught to overcome the
lack of books and primitive schoolrooms, to train children in good moral habits, give
4Sklar, 142-143.
5Sklar, 144-145.
7
spiritual counsel, preserve their own health and avoid overexertion.6 Teacher training
for the frontier proved invaluable, for school houses were often rude and scantilyfurnished; rodents, insects, and weather inhibited learning; and school supplies were
bought piecemeal as tax funds allowed. Further, teachers had to clean the classrooms
themselves because there were no janitorial services, they boarded around with the
members of the community, and they sometimes faced difficulties in collecting their
pay.? Women teachers in the frontier West nobly endured primitive work
environments with the explicit purpose to further feminine influence and promote
morality in rugged frontier societies.
There were other developments which supported the movement of women into
teaching as well. Economic changes within the United States also helped bolster the
arguments, made by Catharine Beecher and others like her, for women to enter the
classroom and join the nation's workforce. Women teachers were needed to replace
men in the classroom because of circumstances that removed them from the educational
field. Men were drawn away from teaching throughout the early to mid-nineteenth
century because of the growth of business and industry, the opportunities of the Gold
Rush, and the recruitment of thousands of men to serve their states in the Civil War. 8
Because of the increasing demand for female teachers, women became more educated
and enrolled in more institutions of higher learning such as colleges, universities, and
normal schools throughout the nineteenth century.
Other factors, too, made women teacher candidates popular among school
officials: they worked for lower wages; they were more willing than men to teach the
6Sklar, 145.
7See not only Sklar, 145, but also Mary Hurlbut Cordier, Schoolwomen of The Praries and
Plains: Personal Narrative from Iowa. Kansas. and Nebraska. 1860s-1920s (Albuquerque: The
University of New Mexico Press, 1992), 112.
8Welter, 112.
8
lower grades; and they were transient workers who usually left their teaching posts
after marriage.9 Although their pay was lower than that of men in the profession,
women believed that teaching was better than working long hours in an unsafe
manufacturing job. In fact, many daughters of middle class families were encouraged
to attend school and become teachers in order to take advantage of the shorter working
hours and the sense of economic independence. I0
Because of Beecher's influence, economic change, and the availability of a
cheap and morally devout workforce, the profession drew large numbers of women
who sought to lend their talents to communities that needed them, especially frontier
communities. It was women teachers who helped turn rugged pioneer communities
into settlements with social institutions. They established habits of neatness, morality,
religion, and learning in their students and the communities they served. II Women
who taught in California helped other women in the community tame the social chaos
on the frontier and worked to establish "orderly" societies.
As more women entered the teaching profession and other occupations in the
workforce, an ideological shift occurred during the I890s. The "Cult of True
Womanhood" ideology conflicted with the changing economy as more women entered
higher-education facilities and jobs. Finding the "True Womanhood" doctrine
outdated, more women adopted the "New Woman" ideology. This new doctrine
9Willard S. Elsbree, The American Teacher: Evolution of a Profession in a Democracy
(Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970),207. According to Elsbree, school officials
preferred their female teachers to be transient workers so they would not ask for higher pay. If women
were to gain experience or compete against men for advanced positions, they would no longer be
desirable candidates for teaching.
I OSee Cordier, pages 27-35 and Nancy Hoffman, Woman's "True" Profession: Voices from
the History of Teaching (Old Westbury, New York: The Feminist Press, 1981),7, for more
information on the reasons women taught in the nineteenth century.
IlMore information regarding what was taught in the classroom can be found in Sklar, 143,
and John Swett, History of the Public School System of California (San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft and
Company, 1876),52.
9
integrated the Victorian virtues of "nurturer" and "moral leader" with an activist social
role. "New Women" also experienced an enhanced sense of self, gender, and
vigorous active life beyond the family. As defmed by historian Nancy Woloch, the
"New Woman" was:
Decidedly middle-class, if not upper-class, she was usually a town or city
dweller, the wife or daughter of a business college graduate, .... She was
more likely to be single than was any other group of women at any time,
before or since, in American history, even more so if she had been to college.
If unmarried, she might be employed outside the home, most likely in a
profession dominated by women, mainly young women, such as teaching or
library work. If she never married, she might maintain her own home,
possibly with another woman, rather than live with a relative. If and when
she married, she usually gave up salaried work and devoted herself to
household and family. Both, however, had been reshaped, much to her
advantage.! 2
As we shall see, one of the three teachers in this study, Sarah Treat Child, was a model
of "New Womahood". Her experience suggests, however, that she was still very
much affected by the expectations of "True Womanhood." However, before this
newer ideology was reached, Elizabeth Powell and Clara Burt would have to work
within the "Cult of True Womanhood" virtues as they entered the teaching profession
in California.
The women who came to frontier California to impose a new order there were
attracted by the teaching opportunities in the state in the aftermath of the Gold Rush.
After gold was discovered in 1848, thousands of people migrated to California in order
to "strike it rich." The few male teachers who worked in the San Francisco Bay area
closed their school doors and headed off to the mines in hopes of finding gold. 13 The
influx of population, accompanied by the disposition of most male teachers in the
12Nancy Woloch, Women and The American Experience (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.,
1994),269.
13See William Warren Ferrier, Ninety Years of Education in California. 1846-1936: A
Presentation of Educational Movements and Their Outcome in Education Today (Berkeley: Sather Gate
Book Shop, 1937),25.
I0
region to seek gold rather then continue teaching, meant increased demand for teachers
and greater opportunities for women teachers. During the I850s and I 860s, many
teachers in California came to the state from the East where they had been
professionally trained in the eastern Normal Schools and universities. 14 Until
California finally established its own Normal Schools and began to educate its citizens
for teaching, teachers were mostly recruited from the eastern states.
Although the people in the state wanted a good education and good schools for
their children, the evolution of the California school system was quite slow, for money
was not always available even to build decent schools or adequately fund instruction.
California state legislators, local officials, and families made efforts to impose structure
on the schools and school districts which sprang up in the state. California state
educational guidelines were first published in the 1850s: grades were divided into
three levels (as opposed to having pupils of all ages in one classroom); teachers were
obliged to take oral examinations to prove they met the state teaching requirements;
school taxes were levied; new school districts were formed to accommodate the
growing population; and curricula were expanded in all grade levels. 15 The laws
enacted in the 1850s laid the basic foundation for the highly organized school systems
of subsequent decades.
14 See Mae Elizabeth Harveson, Catharine Esther Beecher: Pioneer Educator (Philadelphia:
The Science Press Printing Company, 1932) and Sklar's, "Catharine Beecher," for more information
on Catherine Beecher and her great influence on teachers and education throughout the United States.
15Many books contain detailed information regarding the laws passed through the state
legislation for education-related laws. Information can be obtained from the following books: Roy W.
Cloud, Education in California: Leaders. Organizations. and Accomplishments of the First Hundred
Years (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1952),24, John Swett, Public Education in California:
Its Origin and Development. with Personal Reminiscences of Half a Century (New York: American
Book Company, 1911), 112, William Warren Ferrier, Ninety Years of Education in California. 6,
For a summarized re-count of the laws passed in the California state legislation regarding education in
the 1850s, see Cloud, 25-27, and Swett, History of the Public School System of California, 97.
I I
The 1860s and I870s saw continued efforts to improve the state school
system. For example, the first state Normal Schools were built so teachers native to
California could be trained on home soil. I 6 Schools were also required to remain open
for at least six months, and grade levels were defined as first grade through twelfth. l ?
Increased taxes also provided for better paid teachers and more school supplies. 18
Finally, minimum state-wide curricular requirements were implemented and school
attendance was made mandatory for children.
California schools in the last two decades of the nineteenth century had
newer, more current textbooks, while teachers were supervised more often, and funds
for all schools were more secure through regular taxation. 19 As the California school
system became better organized, however, women experienced increased limitations on
their career autonomy and advancement opportunities. For example, female teachers
worked almost exclusively in the primary school classrooms, while men often taught
the higher grade levels or held supervisory positions such as trustee or County
Superintendent.20
The problems in the first California schools outlined above and the evolution
in the state's educational system are reflected in the writings of all three teachers in this
study. Elizabeth Powell, the teacher who worked in the least structured state
educational system, commented on the simple methods she used to obtain teaching
positions and her crudely built school-house in a mining town where support of
schools did not appear to be a priority. Clara Burt, who attended the state-run Normal
school in San Jose and was obliged to meet newly implemented teaching requirements
16Swett, History of the Public School System of California, 36-38.
17Elshree, 197.
18Swett, History of the Puhlic School System of California, 216.
19C1oud, 69-70.
20Soo F<:lrri<:lr, Nintlty Y<:lars of Education in California, and Cloud, Education in California.
12
mandated by the state, often recorded the number of children she had in her class and
remarked on the trustees who dropped in to supervise her teaching methods. The
teacher who worked in the most organized educational system, Sarah Treat Child,
noted her hostility toward the supervisors above her; the use of state-mandated
curricula; the increased policing of tardy students; and the control her male principal
sought over her teaching career. In one instance, he asked Sarah not to marry her
long-time suitor so he would not have to find a replacement for her. As the public
school system became more organized, teachers were less able to create their own
curriculum and were required to meet more state-enforced standards.
As state laws imposed more requirements on school districts, Normal school
education and certification became mandatory for teachers. Getting a teaching job was
a fairly informal process in the 1850s and 1860s and did not require certification. In
order to obtain a position, a teacher met with a County Superintendent and simply
asked if there were any openings. In this way, Elizabeth Powell sought her first
teaching job in California in 1859. If there were jobs available in the teacher's desired
location and pay range, and if the Superintendent offered a job, the teacher accepted the
position.21 However, as teachers became more numerous in California and the school
system became more structured, availability was no longer the only requirement.
Instead, professional preparation and proven competence in subject fields were
expected.
By the 1860s, state laws required teachers to attend Normal Schools where
they were properly trained to meet state certification requirements. Teachers obtained
21See Elizabeth Powell's journal, Diary II (1868-1878), for the following entries:
"Sacramento Steamer Cal. Monday Eve. JlUle 29th, 1868," "Steamer Capital (running from
Sacramento to San Francisco) Oct. 3rd, J 868," "James Pierson's sitting room, San. Fran. Saturday
night, Oct. 17th, 1868," in The Elizabeth Powell Papers, 1854-1916 (BANC MSS 82/55c), The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
13
certification by earning a Normal School diploma and passing an oral examination.22
The requirements for certification became more formalized when written examinations
were introduced in 1876. In order to ensure that teachers were prepared and had a
secure base of knowledge, examinations measured teaching skills in grammar,
arithmetic, geography, reading, theory and practice, word defining, history,
composition, penmanship, algebra, natural philosophy, physiology, natural history,
the United States and California Constitutions, school laws in California, music and
drawing. 23 Without certification, a teacher could not obtain employment.
Unfortunately, in the early stages of certification, some teachers were only
certified by one county or township and their certification did not always carry over to
other areas within California. However, by the 1880s, state certification was
introduced and allowed for more mobility for teachers seeking positions. Professional
licensure not only benefited the children in the schools and communities, but it also
helped increase teachers' earning power and pushed their salaries into higher ranges.
Female teachers earned lower salaries than male teachers and supervisors, yet
teaching salaries for women in California were still attractive. According to data
collected by Willard S. Elsbree, noted historian of American teachers, women teachers
in San Francisco from 1860-1862 earned between $850.00 and $1250.00 per year,
depending on grade level and experience. 24 Elsbree also gave comparative data on the
salaries of teachers in eight major cities, including San Francisco, from 1861-1862.
Female assistants' annual salaries in St. Louis, Boston, and San Francisco were
$325.00, $450.00, and $850.00 respectively.25 Elsbree's research indicates also, that
22Swett, Public Education in Califomil!, 112.
23Swett, History of the Public School System in Californil!, 74, 183-185.
24Elsbree, 278.
25Elsbree, 278. It is important to note that Elsbree classified the women teaching assistants
as equal in status to primary school teachers in California.
14
the higher the grade level taught, the higher the salary base. Conflicting salary data
appear in the research of John Swett, State Superintendent of Public Instruction of
California from 1852-1857. He claimed that by 1866, the average salaries for all
California teachers were $770.00 annually for men and $640.00 annually for
women. 26 By 1875, the average annual salary for male teachers was $849.30,
compared to an average annual salary of $680.00 for women teachers.27
A quantitative analysis of California salaries compared with salaries in the
eastern states is unavailable, but it appears that California teachers were paid more
because of the higher cost of living. Elsbree and Swett's data suggest that both
Elizabeth Powell and Clara Burt made salaries typical for California teachers.
Knowing that average wages were higher in California than in other states may have
motivated teachers like Powell to migrate there from the East.
Elizabeth Powell, in fact, noted during her journey from New York to
California in 1868 that California teachers did not appear "poverty-stricken" like those
she had encountered in Brooklyn or Albany in her home state of New York. 28 In her
journal, Powell revealed the salaries she earned while teaching in the San Francisco
Bay area. In 1869, she wrote about potential earnings from a future employer in
Soquel:
Mr. Cahoon, in whose family Alice Thompson is boarding this summer, has
offered me $35. pro month and my traveling expenses if I will teach his
grandchildren; I would be allowed to take all the Music pupils I might be able
to get in Soquel and Santa Cruz, and probably could have the district school
which Alice has during eight months ofthe year at $66. pro month ....29
2&rhe monthly figures Swett provids have been multiplied by ten to reflect a ten-month
school year. Swett, History of the Public School System in Californi!!, 50.
27Swett, History of the Public School System in California, 233.
28Powell, Diary II, "the Western Hotel, Marysville, Cal. June 30th, 1868, Tuesday
Evening."
29Powell, Diary II, "Mr. Ogden's dining room, Oct. 3rd, 1869. Sunday Eve."
15
By the time Powell moved to Mr. Cahoon's ranch, she was giving music lessons for
$1.00 each lesson, had saved $240.25, and expected to have $1000.00 in one year.30
In 1873, when she taught in San Jose, she earned $65.00 per month for 10 months in
the Hamilton District.31
Clara Burt, another San Francisco Bay area teacher who grew up in Amador
County, was paid $70.00 per month in the Mokelumne District in San Joaquin County
in 1875. 32 Her friend, who taught in San Felipe in 1875, made $80.00 per month.3 3
In 1876, when Burt's term at the Pala District ended, she was offered $80.00 per
month to return to the Mokelumne District but she turned down the offer. 34 She
taught instead at the Telegraph District near Lockeford for $80.00 a month. 35 In
1879, she accepted a position in Sutter at $70.00 per month so that she could be closer
to home.36 When she acted as a substitute teacher in 1881, Burt earned $36.00 for
working twelve days.37 Soon after she got a job teaching in the Cambrian District in
San Jose and earned $65.00 a month for five months.38 Their careful accounting
suggests that Powell and Burt were very interested in their personal finances.
Not only were women teachers interested in their pay, they were also
motivated by possible career advancement. A major career goal was to be a school
principal, or "head teacher" who taught the higher grade levels.39 In the 1850s and
3Opowell, Diary II, "Cahoon's Ranch, near Soquel, Santa Cruz Co. in California. Monday
Evening, March 6th, 1871."
31Powell, Diary II, "Mr. J. B. Hess's near San Jose, Cala. Thursday, March 6th, 1873."
32clam Burt, Diary, "May 25, 1875," The Clara Burt Journal, 1875-1896 (951:6), The
Bancroft Libmry, University of California, Berkeley.
33Burt, "II, Friday. [June, 1875J."
34Burt, "Mar. 19 [1876] Suuday evening."
35Burt, "Lockeford, Oct. 11, 1876."
36Burt, "Amador City, Nov. 30, 1879."
37Burt, "May, 4.[1881J Wednesday."
38Burt, "July 25, 1881. Cambrian Dist. Suburhs of San Jose."
3%lsbree, 174.
16
1860s, there was greater room for advancement because the school system was less
stratified. However, by the 1870s, advancement became more difficult and
competitive. The gender-stratified system placed men in positions of authority while
the women found themselves with less control and autonomy within the classroom
than they had experienced before. Richard Bernard and Maris Vinovskis, who found a
similar situation pattern in Massachusetts schools in the period, noted there were few
female principals and those who were employed never had male teachers working
under them. 40 That is, women were only school principals if there were no male
teachers in the school. Men appeared to hold a monopoly of leadership within the
schools because principalships reflected social convention in a traditional gendered
pattern of male superiority. "The Cult of True Womanhood" dictated a submissive role
for women in the school, home, and workplace. In addition, male voters had a strong
political identity and access to power and influence. Political influence was sometimes
more important in securing teaching positions in California than certification
requirements.
In the city of San Francisco, advancement in the profession was particularly
difficult, for teachers were appointed to positions by political "bosses." Reformers
described this unorthodox approach to hiring as a "reign of terror" during the 18871888 administration of political boss, Christopher Buckley.41 If teachers were not
well-liked by those with political power, they stood little chance for advancement and
had no job protection. Fortunately, Elizabeth Powell, Clara Burt, and Sarah Treat
Child did not experience the difficulties faced by San Francisco teachers. Moreover,
they achieved advancement throughout their careers by becoming Principals or gaining
4%chard Bernard and Maris Vinovskis, "The Female School Teacher in Ante-Bellum
Massachusetts," Journal of Social History. Vol. 10, March 1977, 337.
4lSwett, Public Education in California, 239.
17
preferred teaching positions as their diaries make clear. Their diaries also reflect the
massive changes in California education over the period of their careers and the means
these three teachers used to cope with competing notions of womanhood and worklife.
18
Chapter Two
The Elizabeth Powell Diaries, 1854-1916
The fIrst of the three women who became a California teacher, Elizabeth
Powell, took on the challenges of teaching in the San Francisco Bay area and was
successful in many ways. She embraced the duties of teaching and achieved career
advancement when she became a principal. Her diary recounts her rise to this exalted
position and, more importantly, the circumstances of her daily life as a teacher.
Through Powell's eyes, we see what it was like to be a migrant teacher in the Bay area
in the early schools of California.
Elizabeth Powell, a deeply religious New York teacher, traveled by steamer to
California in order to begin a teaching job in 1868. While in California, she continued
to keep a diary she commenced in New York a dozen years before. She wrote in her
diary what it was like to be a teacher and offered rich personal insights into a teacher's
life during the 1860s and 1870s, when California was still a frontier. In her diary, she
noted her personal views of her career in a manner that reflected her sense of humor,
her frustrations, and her devout faith in God. Her diary reminiscences are key to
understanding what life was like for a nineteenth-century teacher from the East who
journeyed to California to earn more money than she could in New York
Powell worked in an unorganized school system without formalized
procedures for obtaining a teaching job, classroom attendance, daily lesson plans,
arranging for a place to live, or job security. Further, she faced many diffIculties as a
migrant teacher in a primitive school environment. Her challenges included poor
weather conditions that hindered student attendance, keeping rodents and reptiles out of
the classroom, and moving around from year to year, adapting to the various teaching
19
positions she held. Through it all, Powell maintained a strong faith in God's will as
her dreams of marriage and having a home were never fulfilled. Elizabeth Powell, a
courageous, adventurous woman who journeyed by steamer from New York to San
Francisco, proved her mettle and ability to embrace the challenges she faced throughout
her teaching career.
Born on March 6, 1838 in New York State, Elizabeth Powell grew up in a
family that consisted of her father, Westal W. Powell, her mother, Susan Benham, and
four daughters) Powell provided little information about her family in the diary, aside
from letters she mentioned that came from her family when she was a young student at
an unidentified Normal school in New York state near Auburn. There she followed a
well-structured curriculum which included Philosophy, Rhetoric, Grammar, Algebra,
Chemistry, Writing, Drawing, Moral Science, Natural Philosophy (Science), and
Geometry. After graduation from the Normal School in 1855, Powell took a teaching
position in Louisiana where she taught for approximately two years. 2 She returned to
New York around 1859.3
By 1862, Powell was in Albany, New York giving music lessons and
teaching French to the children in the community.4 Five years later, she decided to
move to California because of the lack of teaching opportunities in New York state.
Her move to California was sponsored by her cousin, James Pierson, who arranged
for Powell to travel to the state by steamer. Borrowing money for the voyage from
1From a miscellaneous page that introduces the reader to Powell by one of her nieces in
Diary I (1854-1868), The Elizabeth Powell Papers, 1854-1916 (BANC MSS 82/55c), The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
2See Powell, Diary I for all of Powell's entries regarding her earlier years as a student and
teacher.
3Powell, Diary I, "Friday, July 22nd, 1859, Uncle Young's parlor."
4Powell, Diary I, "Uncle YOlmg's Sitting Room Wednesday Eve. Sept. 21st/[18]59."
20
relatives, Powell set sail for San Francisco at age thirty-one hoping to find a new future
in teaching.
Once she arrived in San Francisco, she took a steamer to Sacramento and
joined her cousin there on June 28, 1868. Shortly thereafter, Powell went to the office
of the County Superintendent of Schools to copy down the addresses of local and
district Superintendents, intending to solicit teaching positions from them. She hoped
to secure a position lucrative enough to enable her to send for her sister Amanda and
Amanda's children.S Powell's hope of making a good living teaching in California
was sparked by meeting a well-dressed woman on the steamer to Sacramento. The
woman taught at the Lincoln School in San Francisco and was on her summer
vacation.
My room-mate was a young lady, a teacher in the Lincoln Primary School of
San Francisco; she was out on a pleasure trip; during the summer vacation
California teachers are furnished passes for some of the railroads and
steamboats free and for others at half price. Hurrah for California! And the
California teachers are not such a forlorn looking, poverty-stricken sett (sic)
as the Albany and Brooklyn teachers. Those I have seen look as though they
might have plenty of money for dress and books.6
She, too, wished to have enough money to achieve a similar appearance, courtesy of
her first California teaching job in Pike City.
Powell had traveled for quite a while to reach her teaching job when by
August, 1868, she had reached her final destination of Pike City.7 She quickly
adjusted to her new teaching job there and her accommodations with the Schwartz
family, whose children were among her pupils. "Boarding round" with one or several
families in the school district was the common experience of women teachers in the
5Powell, Diary II (1868-1874), "Sacramento Steamer Cal. Monday Eve. hme 29,1868,"
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
6Powell, Diary n, "Western Hotel, Marysville, Cal. June 30th, 1868, Tuesday Evening."
7Powell, Diary II, "Pike City, Cal. Friday P.M. Aug. 14/68 Mr. Schwartz's."
2 1
nineteenth century: typically, parents of several children in the school provided
hospitality.
"The schoolwomen who boarded with families found that the living conditions
ranged from intolerable to a real 'home away from home."'S The existing scholarship
indicates that conditions obviously varied: some homes were "ruder" than others, and
teachers sometimes had their own rooms. Other times the teachers had to share a
bedroom or a bed with family members. Children either lovingly adored their teacher
or disliked their "guest" enough to play pranks upon her. The food ranged from
inadequate to plentiful.
Powell's boarding situation usually included meals shared with the host
family, her own room, and little privacy. Usually transportation was not guaranteed in
most of the communities in which she taught. The school was located near-by, which
was a blessing, for none of the families offered her transportation to work. In her
diary entries, Powell never expressed dissatisfaction with the families she stayed with
and her job duties did not seem to take her longer than twelve hours. She often had
time to write letters to family that she composed in the family dining room, to exercise,
and attend church since she did not indicate she assisted with the family's chores. The
friendly families she stayed with helped Powell adjust to a frontier school system and
the special challenges she found in her working environment in Pike City.
Though Powell dove right into her work, she had a little trouble adjusting to
the new frontier culture, for she experienced working conditions that she was not used
to. For example, she had to work in a run-down school house which was home to
rodents and lizards where one "immense" lizard "promenaded across the room in
8Mary Hurlbut Cordier, Schoolwomen of the Prairies and Plains: Personal Narratives from
Iowa. Kansas. and Nebraska. 1860s-1920s, (Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press,
1992), 78.
22
almost too free-and-easy a style." Nails jutted out of the walls that served as hat
hangers while splinters served as embroidery needles, and the schoolyard "consist[ed]
of big logs, odds-and-ends of building timber, piles of broken glass and brush-wood,
and patches of tar-weed alternating with patches of dust four or five inches thick. ,,9
She gave a vivid and funny account of her classroom in an essay she wrote in
preparation for her first meeting at the Teachers' Institute--a mandatory educational
program for California teachers. The essay reflects her sense of classroom humor, her
working environment, and her reactions to the "hazards" of the frontier.
In her explanation of her decision to write about her classroom for the
Teachers' Institute meeting, Powell commented, "I think it a pity that such a rare and
curious specimen of architecture should be allowed to pass without notice, 10 and she
ff
continued her description of her crudely built building. The school house was poorly
built and the cracks and knotholes between the wooden planks of the walls were large
enough for "sufficient air circulating through the room to prevent any danger of its
occupants becoming musty." While making the school house, the builder did not
properly level the planks in the walls because "the lower ends of the planks are sawed
in such a manner that no two are at the same distance from the ground and I am puzzled
to know whether the man who sawed them was trying to imitate stairs or terrace or
whether he wished the lengths of his planks to illustrate the relative heights of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. 11 The school house windows received attention as well:
ff
Powell noted that "[the architect] placed the windows so high that they cannot possibly
look out of them unless [the students] stand on tip-toe and stretch their necks like
9For the entire essay on Powell's school-house, see Powell, Diary II, "Mrs. Schwartz's
kitchen, Sept. lOth/68 Thursday evening."
10Jhid.
llIhid.
23
young turkeys; as this is not very agreeable they generally prefer to give their attention
to objects inside of the room, and must, of course, either contemplate my beauty or
look at their books. 12
II
Powell commented on the schoolroom furniture, too. She wrote that "'Variety
is the spice of life,' and [the man1took care that no two should be alike; most of the
desks seem to have been intended for men of Goliath stature. 13 Not only was the
II
furniture ill suited to the small stature of the pupils, but the desktops were at such an
angle that writing upon them was difficult: "one desk has the right height and slope for
writing, but is always seized with St. Viti's (sic) dance as soon as anyone comes in
contact with it; then there is a venerable centre-table (sic) which has upon it the mold of
antiquity, with whose height I am satisfied, but unfortunately it has the Palsy and St.
Viti's dance combined." 14
Not only did Powell have to tolerate a crude building, but she also encountered
pests that inhibited learning within the classroom:
...a half-grown mouse dropped from above and almost hit me in the head;
the next morning when I opened the door I found another of the family lying
on the floor in its last agonies; -- (sic) I fear that by Monday I shall find so
many that have been killed by a fall from the roof to the floor that I shall be
obliged to close school and have a funeral.... while I was reading a thrilling
chapter from St. John's Gospel a little girl who was sitting with her back
against the side of the house, called out, 'There is a snake behind me!' ... the
snake proved to be a good-sized frog which had wedged itself into a big crack
behind the child's neck. IS
Powell's description of her classroom ended with the following warning
intended for communities who planned on constructing new school-houses: "I might
as well stop writing, for my school-house must be seen in order to be fully appreciated;
121bid.
131bid.
14Ihid.
15Ibid.
24
and I advise all who have any thing to do with the construction of school buildings to
visit it before they erect any new ones. I 6 Powell's essay, narrated in a light,
II
humorous fashion, proved that she had a resilience that helped her adapt to extreme
working conditions.
Teaching was difficult not only because of the inadequate physical condition of
the classroom. Powell confronted other challenges on the job such as student absences
and irregular paychecks. Her students were not always in attendance: heavy rains
common to the region and illness often kept them away. Family chores, however,
were the major causes of student absences. The tasks assigned to the children usually
included chopping wood and clearing fields, preparing the ground for planting,
bringing in crops, hunting for lost cows, and doing the family's laundry. According to
the inhabitants, these responsibilities were more important than book-learning in a new
and growing town like Pike City. Although Powell noted the absences, she did not
complain to the students or their parents about their being absent from school, or not
valuing education. She did complain, however, about not getting paid on time. At the
beginning of her term in Pike City, her pay was distributed at irregular intervals.
Eventually, Powell received her payments in a timely manner each month.
Obviously, teaching was not easy in a frontier community and Powell used her
diary to vent her frustrations and express her homesickness and sense of loss over
loved ones in the East. She missed her family dearly and felt compassion for a good
friend of hers who had also left loved ones behind. Seeking employment, a friend and
fellow teacher, Alice Thompson, had moved to California shortly after Powell, leaving
her baby behind with its grandmother. While empathizing with her friend, Powell also
feared being poor, homeless, and single. Her fears were compounded by her being so
16lbid.
25
far away from loved ones. For quite a while, Powell was pursued by someone who
loved her, Mr. LeBlanc, whom she met shortly after her arrival in California. Powell
never returned the love he felt for her and declined his marriage proposal. To carry
herself through the loneliness, Powell often sought grace and understanding to accept
God's will for her.
I begin (sic) to be very anxious to know what work God has in store for me
this Fall. 'Man's Goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his
way?' ... I know that 'as my day is, so shall my strength be,' and why need
I fear? I do feel so desolate and discouraged sometimes when I consider that I
have arrived at the age of thirty and am homeless and poor and, have no
prospect of ever being any thing else. Why cannot I be satisfied to learn the
lessons of the class in which God has placed me and wait patiently until he
sees fit to put me in a higher? If I could only find it meat and drink to do His
will. I7
Powell's immediate circumstances motivated her to pray for patience,
acceptance, and resignation so that she might eventually gain a husband and home.
Her anxiety probably reflected social expectations for nineteenth century women:
women were highly valued and "whole" if they held the titles of wife, mother, and
homemaker. Her diary entries indicate that she felt she was worth little if she did not
have the "full" life of a married woman. Unfortunately for Powell, her boarding
arrangements lacked privacy and were less than ideal for courtship purposes. I 8 Yet,
Powell endured her situation and kept her faith in God, praying that things would tum
around.
Fortunately, the hardships of teaching a class in an extremely isolated mining
town did not last long. As soon as the school term was finished, Powell packed her
bags and headed off to San Francisco to find a teaching job in a less rustic and more
17Powell, Diary II, "Steamer Capital (running from Sacramento to San Francisco) Oct. 3rd,
1868."
18See Maris A. Vinovskis and Richard M. Bernard, "The Female School Teacher in AnteBellum Massachusetts", Journal of Social History, Volume 10, March 1977: 336.
CAL STATE UNIVERSITY, HAYWARD LIBRARY
26
settled work environment. On October 10, 1868, she inquired at the office of the
County Superintendent of San Mateo and soon after was awarded a job in San Bruno,
where she lived with the Ogden family.1 9 Boarding with the Ogdens was a happy
situation for her and she felt like part of the family after a short while--so much so that
she wished to stay in San Bruno and buy a home. While at the Ogden's home, she
wrote about preparing for a typical school day:
Mr. Ogden built a fire in the school-room in order to get some of the
dampness out of it, and after awhile I went in and brushed the floor, washed
the table, dusted the chairs, and got my writing materials and 'Guy
Mannering' preparatory to having a comfortable, pleasant time; I seated
myself on the floor in a comer and commenced to read....20
It is not clear how many students Powell taught while boarding with the
Ogden family because her diary entries do not give any details or names of students
other than those of the Ogden children. However, it appears that she was a private
teacher for the Ogden children and their neighbors' children in a school-house either
erected by the Ogdens or located close by. Teaching positions of this sort were
common and normally gained by soliciting the Superintendent. The teaching positions
ranged from the lower level of chambermaid / tutor in a private home to the more
prestigious level of teaching the upper grade levels in a district school. Personal
solicitation of the Superintendent for teaching opportunities in a variety of settings was
common in California during the 1850s and 1860s, and Powell and her contemporaries
were quite familiar with the practice.
Just as Powell had become happy with her teaching position with the Ogden
family, her friend, Alice, experienced problems with her employers, a San Francisco
19Powell, Diary II, "San Francisco, No.9 Howard Court, James Pierson's sitting room,
Oct. 10th, 1868."
2Opowell, Diary II, "Mr. Ogden's dining room, Dec. 27th, 1868. The last Sabbath of the
year."
27
family who had her working as a "sort of combination of seamstress, governess, and
chambermaid, which I think must be a decidedly disagreeable JX)sition, though she is
brave and tries to look at the bright side of things. ,,21 Powell did her best to help Alice
find a new situation with the help of her former suitor, Mr. LeBlanc. She campaigned
hard to find Alice an agreeable job; yet, by the time an offer came through Powell's
efforts, Alice had acquired a new position on her own.22 Alice Thompson's job
search highlights the instability and insecurity nineteenth-eentury California teachers
experienced.
Six months later in October of 1869, Powell found her JX)sition with the
Ogden family threatened. She was offered a new position as a private teacher near
Alice, however she declined because she wanted to stay with the Ogden family, whom
she adored. She wrote about her offer and her living conditions with the Ogdens:
Mr. Cahoon, in whose family Alice Thompson is boarding this summer, has
offered me $35. pro month and my traveling expenses if I will teach his
grandchildren; I would be allowed to take all the Music pupils I might be able
to get in Soquel and Santa Cruz, and probably could have the district school
which Alice has, during eight months of the year at $66. pro month; now this
all looks very desirable, but I am loth to leave Mr. Ogden's family; I fear it
will never again be my good fortune to be with such agreeable people and to
have such a desirable home; I fancy there might be more satisfaction in
teaching Mr. Cahoon's children than in teaching Lulu & Eddie Ogden, but
perhaps there wouldn't be. I think Mr. Ogden will go to Los Angeles or to
some other place within six months where I will have a chance to make more
money than I am making; at any rate Mr. & Mrs. Ogden are honorable people
and will do as well by me as they can afford to do; Mr. Cahoon is coming to
see me this week but I believe I shall tell him that Ifrefer to stay in this family
and take my chances of doing better after awhile. 2
21Powell. Diary II. "Mr. Ogden's dining room. Jan. 10th. 1869. Sunday Eve."
22See the following entries for details regarding the job search for Alice Thompson. all in
Powell, Diary II: "Mr. Ogden's dining room, Jan. 10th. 1869. Sunday Eve," "Mr. Ogden's dining
room, Jan. 20th. 1869. Wednesday Eve.... "Monday Eve. Feb. 1st. 1869." "Mr. Ogden's. March 3rd.
1869. Wednesday Eve.•" "Mr. Ogden's dining room. Apr. 14th. 1869. Wednesday Eve."
23Powell. Diary II, "Mr. Ogden's dining room, Oct. 3rd. 1869. Slmday Eve."
28
Unfortunately, once the Ogdens found that Powell had chosen to stay with
them, they began to show discontent with her and acted less hospitable than they had
before, treating her more like one of their servants rather than a teacher. She recorded
her feelings about the sudden turnabout:
This has been rather a dismal day to me... My composure was disturbed in
the ftrst place by not having an opportunity to go to church... although
during the ftrst few months of my being here I was always invited except
when there was company here. The servants go the 1st Sunday of each
month and probably Mrs. Ogden thinks that I, like other servants, ought to be
satisfted with going once a month.... If I have no invitation to go next
Sunday I'll go in the cars always, never in the carriage again while I am here.
I went off for a walk after lunch, and when I returned at 4 1/2 0' clock
they had ftnished dinner; Mrs. Ogden did not say one word to me about
having any thing to eat, but some pie was standing on the table, so I ate a
piece of that and walked off up stairs; I was real hungry and would have liked
something more; never mind! perhaps I'll be rich and independent some day,
and then I'll have as much as I wish to eat, and a horse and will go to church
when I please.... There are many things which show me plainly that I have
already stayed here too long, so I'll make the best arrangement I can for the
Spring and then be off. I shall try to get the school in Mr. Cahoon's district
and board at his house. I pray for God's blessing and direction.
I wonder if Mrs. Ogden will ever recall the promise which she so rashly
made that I should 'always have a home in her house as long as she had one'.
Ahem!24
Soon after Powell wrote this entry in her diary, she contacted Mr. Cahoon and
accepted his offer in March of 1870.
The next entry in Powell's diary was written in Mr. Cahoon's district in
Soquel one year later on her birthday, March 6, 1871. She wrote that she was now
thirty-three years old and that her heart had been broken by a man who married another
woman. This man, whom she identifted as Rochester, must have entered her life
during her ftrst year of teaching in Soquel. She took comfort in her belief that God had
other plans for her:
24Powell, Diary II, "Mr. Ogden's, Sunday Eve. Jan. 23rd, 1870."
29
"God's ways are not as our ways;" but "He doeth all things well;" and so,
although he who should have been my husband has become according to law,
the husband of another, I'll try to live contentedly without him. I'll pray for
grace and strength to do God's work, and to cast all my care upon Him; and
will ask to be made perfect in faith, hope and charity.25
Although her love life did not go as she had wished, Powell's teaching career
in Soquel proved to be profitable. She gave seventeen music lessons per week at
$1.00 per lesson and saved $240.25. By age 34, she expected to have saved
$1000.00. With these savings, she hoped someday to have a home of her own.
Working in Soquel appeared to be a positive move for Powell all around,
because her boarding situation had also improved. She had a room of her own;
complete with her books, a table, treasured pictures on the wall, a bureau, a vase filled
with "English violets, daisies, pansies and pincusion (sic) which Mrs. Ogden made for
me, ,,26 and a much loved canary bird named Dotty Dimple. Judging from her diary
entry, Powell appeared content as a private teacher in Soquel.
Her next entry was written a year later on April 21, 1872, where she told of
her latest boarding situation in Soquel. Powell did not explain why she let a year go by
before making another entry. Several reasons may account for her "silence." The first
reason may be that she simply became so busy in her teaching job that she did not have
time to write. Another reason may be that Powell used her diary as an outlet to vent
her frustrations and did not write because she was happy and content in the months she
made no entries. Why she failed to write will never be known. Some historians have
found that California pioneers of the nineteenth century commonly wrote journals with
the hope that their manuscripts would someday become published. There is no
25Powell, Diary II, "Cahoon's Ranch, near Soquel, Santa Cruz Co. in California. Monday
Evening, March 6th, 1871."
26Ibid.
30
evidence in the diary to suggest she intended to publish the diary, but she appears to
have used the diary to record events in her life that she wished to look back upon later.
With the entry of April 21, 1872, we learn Powell was boarding with a Mrs.
Baker in Soquel. Her comments suggest that she and Mrs. Baker were fast friends and
enjoyed gardening together. Following their Sunday morning "promenade" among the
flowers, Powell attended a church service, followed by an evening of reading and
writing letters to relatives. These activities seemed to take the edge off of her
loneliness and longing for loved ones in New York. Unfortunately, Powell does not
indicate whether she was still teaching Mr. Cahoon's grandchildren; in fact, she says
nothing whatsoever about teaching. Her next diary entry gives much more information
on the subject, however.
Powell's diary entry of March 6, 1873, tells that she was living and teaching
in the San Jose area. She worked in the Hamilton district for $65.00 per month for ten
months in a "horrid" school. She explained why her job situation was so bad:
My school-house is a combination of all that is dismal and disagreeable; my
pupils are most of them tolerably well disposed, but oh! (sic) they are
fearfull y stupid and backward. Boys who are fifteen years old, and girls too,
get fearfully puzzled over subtraction. Mr. Blackford's children, Lillie and
May, are the only ones who have made proper advancement in their studies..
. . My term will end the 5th of May. The Hamilton District will have used all
its money then, consequently the ~ple cannot have any more school until the
commencement of another year. 2
Powell's comment on the lack of funding was true of many California
schools. Inadequate financial support for schools may explain why the pupils' skills
were so low. The district may not have had money for adequate textbooks, nor a
school year long enough to allow students to make regular progress in their studies.
27Powell, Diary II, "Mr. J. B. Hess's, near San Jose, Cala. Thursday, March 6th, 1873."
3 1
Unfortunately for Powell, the challenge of getting students up to adequate levels was a
difficult one.
After Powell described her unfortunate teaching circumstances, she lamented
over her single state: she wrote how she wished for a "husband, home and baby."28
She hoped she would soon be a wife, because she felt marriage would save her from a
life of loneliness. Then she described a man with whom she was smitten, Mr. Alex
Hess, the brother of the man whose family she boarded with. She was very interested
in him as a mate because "I know he'd be a devoted husband and father. ,,29 Sad to
say, Hess did not become her husband. Powell's unfulfilled wishes for marriage
possibly led her to seek comfort in popular literature and writings which bolstered her
self image and emphasized the importance of her role as teacher. She entered
noteworthy quotations in her journal from other authors who shared her views about
education.
One of Powell's favorite authors was Dr. L. Hamilton who characterized
education as the "seed" that allows man or woman to "grow" completely.30 With
education, he explained, the person attains personal worth, character, and spiritual
growth. ".. JMlen will be grown, not misers, nor coxcombs (sic), nor bloats-women, not dolls nor lay figures for the dry goods merchant. ,,31 Hamilton saw
clearly that education made a person whole and helped to shape children's character
and kept them from losing opportunities in life:
... rT]he school is the seed plot and nursery where the growth is started
which the whole after life is to carry forward. When its roots are transferred
to the open field of practical activities, there should be no change in the
primary object, if that growth has been rightly cultured in the beginning. It
28Ibid.
29Jbid.
3Orhid.
31Ihid.
32
has been miserably defective if it does not start the pupil forth under the
controlling idea and aim that the first and main thing that life is for is to make
the largest addition it may to personal worth, that the first object of its money
getting is to transmute money into man, to tum house and lands into character,
to convert stocks and bonds into mind, heart and soul. 32
The second half of the quotations in Powell's diary included Dr. Hamilton's
teaching philosophies which reflected the ideals which guided public education in the
nineteenth century. He urged parents to keep children in school so that they may
become "true men and women. ,,33 If children are removed from schooling and put to
work in order to make more money for the parents, Hamilton warned, it will "dwarf
(the children's] souls. ,,34 Hence, parents should make every possible sacrifice in
order to keep their children in school. This quotation may have spoken to Powell's
frustration over parents' keeping children from school to do family chores.
Dr. Hamilton's last comments were directed at young pupils. He told them to
stay in school and wait patiently for the completion of their education. Hamilton urged
the students to reserve their "fire" until they could deliver it with the "best effect."
Lastly, he instructed students to serve God during their quest for education, for "God
will reward [them] and will not forget [them] or the services He wants of [them]."35
There is nothing in the diary to identify Dr. L. Hamilton, yet Powell's careful
recording of his words suggests that she agreed wholeheartedly with his views.
Though she did not make any comments on the quotations in her diary, one may safely
assume that she saw his arguments as her own. It is likely that she used Hamilton's
words to reinforce her educational ideals and sustain her while teaching in San Jose.
32Ibid.
33Ibid.
34Ihid.
35Ibid.
33
Powell's next teaching assignment took her to Oakland where she stayed until
her retirement in 1902. Her first year in Oakland was not the happiest, however,
according to her next entry, which was written on her thirty-sixth birthday on March 6,
1874. Powell told her diary that she had kept busy with teaching because she did not
want to think about her homelessness and loneliness. She boarded with a Mr.
Hardwick in Oakland and earned $100.00 per month which was the highest salary she
had earned thus far in California. She maintained her love and appreciation of God for
giving her the blessings of a good job and higher salary, but still mourned the fact that
she did not have a home or a husband:
I am glad that I have to be so busy that I haven't much time to think As I am
homeless and all alone in the world, with nothing bright and pleasant to look
forward to, I would soon be unhappy if I were idle... .I thank God for this
blessing, and I try to thank Him for all my blessings--even though they are in
disguise; yet I am too-often rebellious, for my heart is so hungry. How I do
want to be made perfect in faith and hope.36
Powell's last diary entry, written on August 31, 1878, revealed that she lived
in West Oakland with a Mrs. Nisavander. Her final entry was a quotation, written by
"E. A. 0.," that celebrated nature and its importance in keeping life balanced.
Unfortunately, the quotation does not help the reader determine what Powell was
doing. Powell's activities after 1878 are revealed in a letter from the Oakland Teachers
Association. The letter, written in 1916, explains a great deal about her career. The
letter was written the year of Powell's death and it commemorates Powell's service in
the Oakland school system:
Miss Powell was elected to the Oakland Department on June the sixth,
1878, and was assigned a teaching-principal (sic) to the classes held in a room
in the old Plymouth Church. When a new building was opened on the site of
the present Grant School, in January 1885, Miss Powell assumed charge, as
principal. This position she held until she left the Department in July 1902..
36Powell, Diary II, "Mr. Hardwick's, Oakland, March 6th, 1874. Friday Evening."
34
.. Many of those children are teaching in the Oakland Schools to-day, and her
influence, her care-taking work, her absorbing, whole-hearted interest in their
welfare--mental, physical and spiritual--live now, because she so impressed
them, that they carry the message to the new generation of boys and girls.
We, who worked with, or under her, pause to thank her for the example she
gave us of a God-loving woman....37
The letter praised Powell and indicated that she was an influential teacher
whose life seemed fulfilled. For example, her promotion to principal may have been
the "higher" place she so often dreamed of, and Powell's piety and purity led those
around her to believe she was a "true woman." Her commitment to shaping the
mental, physical, and spiritual lives of students through education were appreciated by
her students, and this made her a successful and revered educator in the eyes of her
peers.
In sum, Elizabeth Powell, pioneer teacher in the San Francisco Bay area,
served the children of California for thirty-four years. Her diary entries recounted her
many experiences as a teacher: she obtained teaching jobs through persistence,
personal recommendations, and luck; she encountered rodents and other pests in her
primitive classroom in Pike City; she usually boarded with her employers; she had
good relationships with her students; the rain, mud, and dust hindered classroom
productivity; she never married but desperately wanted to; she missed her loved ones
and often experienced loneliness; and she reluctantly participated in state mandated
Teachers Institutes until her later years when she got involved in the Teachers Club of
Oakland.
Powell accomplished much in her teaching despite the hardships she endured.
Her writings show that being a teacher in the 1860s and l870s was not always fair or
37Letter from the Oakland Teachers Association to Dr. AlIa Huntington, care of Mrs. Geo.
Hawley, 29th and Fairmount, Oakland, California, October 30, 1916, Elizabeth Powell Diaries, 18541916, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
35
pleasant, yet she maintained her drive to teach and experienced advancement
opportunities as her career progressed. Powell's diaries portray her as an advocate of
"true womanhood" in a time when piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity were
highly revered. When she did not marry or own her own home, she worried that she
would not achieve her personal goals. Judging from the letter written by the Oakland
Teachers' Association in 1916, Powell eventually succeeded in her life and career and
was honored as a "true woman" by her peers, who were also successful teachers.
Clara Burt, another successful Bay area teacher who grew up in California and taught
there from 1875 to 1896, was a "true woman" of a different sort.
36
Chapter Three
The Clara Burt Journal, 1875-1896
By the time Clara Burt taught in the San Francisco Bay area, California had
established a more regulated and organized school system than the one Elizabeth
Powell found when she came to the state. Normal school preparation was more
standardized by the 1870s. Teachers' Institutes were "in place." Classroom visitation
by Superintendents was common. The population boom, furthermore, gave more
opportunities for employment and career advancement for teachers. There were
curricular and social changes as well.
Burt's teaching was focused on the "3 R's" of reading, writing, and arithmetic
and she said nothing about prayer in the classroom of about inculcating moral values in
her students. On a personal level, she and other women teachers grew more
comfortable with being single and viewed teaching as a long-term career, rather than as
a temporary one before marriage. Many things had changed for teachers in California,
and Burt's diary gives vivid insight into how much a difference there was between
migrant teachers who experienced a more rustic school system and the women, like
Burt, who grew up within the state and were trained in state normal schools to teach in
more organized working environments.
Born in California in 1857, Clara Burt was from a family that strongly
advocated education for women and was supportive of her teaching career. Her father,
Benjamin Burt, was born in Acushnet, Massachusetts and moved to California in 1849
to seek gold. Her mother, Orilla Burt, was also from Massachusetts and attended the
Bridgewater State Normal School where she excelled in mathematics. In 1854,
Benjamin and Orilla Burt married in Amador County, California and had four
37
daughters together: Evelyn, Lilla, Clara, and Fannie. As the daughter of a would-be
teacher, it is not surprising that Burt and her sisters entered the teaching profession as
well.
Benjamin Burt worked as a farmer for many years and then opened his own
mercantile business in Drytown, California. In 1874, Orilla Burt moved to San Jose
so that her daughters could attend the State Normal School there while Benjamin stayed
at the family ranch between Drytown and Amador City. Though Benjamin and Orilla
Burt lived apart for many years, they loved each other and were "unseparable" (sic)1
after he sold the family land and moved to 14 South McLaughlin Avenue in East San
Jose in 1890.
Clara Burt's mother had moved with her daughters to San Jose one year
before Clara commenced her journal. In the first entry, May 25, 1875, Clara, who had
recently graduated from Normal school, introduced herself and her new teaching
responsibilities:
Mokelumne District. San Joaquin Co.
Tuesday.
Papa purchased this nice book for me to use as a Journal two or three
months ago. I have been too busy until now to feel that I could begin and
write as regularly as I should desire to do.
Our class graduated from the State Normal School on the twenty-fifth of
March 1875. I staid (sic) with Mamma, Evie, and Fannie in San Jose for two
or three weeks, then upon receiving from Supt. Crawford an offer of a school
in Mokelumne District I decided to take it. I came up to Mok. District (sic)
Apr. 12 and opened school on the 14. The no. of pupils present on the first
day was ten. Several in the District were kept at home on account of the
whopping cough (sic). Today I had twenty-four pupils in attendance.
Tonight finishes up the sixth week that I have taught. My salary is $70. per
mo. so I have already earned $105. I have sent Mamma $40. and paid Dr.
Locke $20.
I am enjoying teaching very much for my pupils are good and seem to be
improving rapidly.2
1From the newspaper articles and obituary of her parents attached to the diary, The Clara
Burt Journal, 1875-1896 (951:6), The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
2Burt, May 25, 1875.
38
Burt's first diary entry offers important details about how she got a teaching job, what
she was paid, the number of students in her class, and how much she enjoyed her new
job. Her teaching continued to be a major focus in the diary.
Throughout her teaching career, Burt taught not only in the San Francisco Bay
area, but in Calaveras, Amador, and San Joaquin counties. Usually she changed her
place of employment so that she could live close to her parents who moved several
times in the period. She was a dynamic instructor. Her accounts of her teaching
indicate that wherever she taught, Burt was well liked by her students and she truly
enjoyed her role as a teacher, "nurturer," and "caregiver."
While in the Mokelumne District, Burt, like Powell and many other teachers,
boarded round with the families of some of her students and appeared to find the
experience very enjoyable. Part of her enjoyment over being a teacher in a close-knit
community was that she was able to act as an "all-around caretaker"3 to her students
and, therefore, establish strong supportive relations with them. One student, Little
Henry Thompson, liked his teacher so much that when she stayed at his home, he said
he was "going to be Miss Burts (sic) boy." She continued to emphasize the role she
played as nurturer and caregiver when she commented, "He let me wash him and put
him to bed tonight as happy as can be. ,,4 Her demeanor, coupled with her creative
teaching talents, made her very popular among students and parents alike.
Burt's diary portrays her as a concerned teacher who checked in on students
who were ill and kept her class in good order. Occasionally she had to discipline
students who misbehaved, but she usually used reasoning and her good rapport with
her students to set them back on the road to good behavior. As she wrote in one entry
3This was hallowed as the ideal role tor women during this time within society.
4Burt, "Wednesday. May 26. [1875]."
39
in 1875: "...Some of the children had been plaguing each other before I reached
school this morning. I spoke to them about it and told them not to do anything to
anybody unless they were sure they would like to have it done to themselves.... ,,5
On one rare occasion, Burt found she needed to use more firm disciplinary techniques
on her students:
· ..When I carne to school this morning I found that three of the girls had
been running.6 I kept them in during the whole of the morning's recess and
one hal f of the noon.
Two of the boys, Willie Cowden and John Newton, got to fighting a little
this noon. I took them both in and whipped them. That is the first whipping
that I have had to do.
The scholars were very curious to see how I would whip. I believe three
or four of them climbed into the tree so as to look into the school-house. I
sent notes horne to Willies, also to John Newtons (sic), father.7
Burt was very conscientious about recording what happened at school. She
wrote about the organization of the school day, the number of pupils in attendance, and
the reasons for the students' absences. The following entries are examples of her
meticulous note-taking:
· . .I worked real hard in school today. If some of the young ones don't
know anything it will be no fault of mine if I am able to do anything by trying
for I am using all my powers to get some of them started. I have been
working over Martha Tubbs for two or three days. I have felt as if she did not
stud~ as much as she is able, and I have tried lately to get more work out of
her.
· . .I asked little Carrie Staylow to spell ox today and she said ('it, is') (sic)
When I asked Abe Thompson to spell gy he said CQ..&&) (sic) He had been
studying words which ended in ee. I don't think he had any idea what he was
spelling.9
Wednesday. 23. rJune, 1875]
SBurt, "June 3. Thursday. [1875J."
6In this era of the nineteenth century. running was not seen as "ladylike" and was
discouraged in young girls.
7Burt, "9. Wednesday. [llme. 1875]."
8Burt. "Thursday, 17 [llme 1875]."
9 Burt, "Monday 21. [June 1875]."
40
I had only fifteen pupils. Ten had to be out on account of harvesting.
Little Rosie Ray has to be out because she burnt her leg. She burnt it with
hot water. lO
.. .I sent Wm. Cowden home for swearing this morning. He came back this
afternoon and promised not to swear again. 11
Burt offers no explanation for her detailed and meticulous diary keeping.
Perhaps she had to produce reports on student absences for the School Trustees,
School Principal, County Superintendent, or the County Teachers Institute: such a
requirement would explain the entry of Wednesday, June 23, 1875, in which she noted
that ten out of fifteen pupils were missing because of harvesting. The need for
children's assistance in the harvest season indicates how rural the area was and how
state laws, enacted in the 1870s, sought to encourage young people to remain in
school. Her other diary entries recorded the methods she used to teach, and the tactics
she employed to correct poor student behavior. Whatever her reasons for recording the
day's lessons, her information on her students shows that she cared for her pupils, she
was happy being a teacher, and she had a good sense of humor.
I am getting along nicely in school. Little Pidgie Thompson says all the word
(sic) I teach her to spell is "boy". She says I never say anything about
spelling girl.
Its so funny she said that for I have never told her how to spell either word.
They (sic) other day I was teaching Carrie Staydon how to spell some
words. I came to the word "Kit" and I wanted her to tell me what she thought
it spelled. She did not know. There was a picture of a kitten on the page. I
asked her what it was. She said that it was a cat. I told her that word did not
spell cat. What is a little cat called? "A little mouse" said she. She said it so
cunning that I could not get over laughing for a good while.1 2
10Burt, "Wednesday 23. LJune 1875)."
I1Burt, "Thursday. 24 LJune 1875]."
12Burt, "July 26. Monday. LI875]."
4 1
Three months later, Burt wrote that she had finished her term at the
Mokelumne District and had taught for six weeks in the Franklin District in San Jose
until she closed the school because of student illness. I 3 Within a month of closing the
Franklin School, she worked as a substitute teacher at the Hester School in San Jose
while she attended the Teachers' Institute: "[I went t01 the Institute for a few minutes
this morning. Supt. Kennedy opened the meeting this afternoon with an address after
which Prof. Allen gave a lecture on spelling. I taught for four days last week. This
week I attend Institute all the week." 14 Burt appeared to enjoy going to the Teachers'
Institute. "Hord Alston read several of his poems. Among them was 'The Fire' a
poem inscribed to the Virginia City sufferers. Miss Benefey read two or three
selections during this afternoon exercises."15 Burt seemed to love her teaching career
and enjoyed attending state-mandated Teachers' Institutes.
Although Burt was quite happy with her job, she still experienced some
difficulties in the classroom because of events that she could not control, like the
weather. "It has been so rainy today that our shed is filling with water. Minnie
Hollenbeck made her appearance today. She did not come in the early part of the week
as the roads were so bad, occasioned by this unusual amount of rain. ,,16
By December 1, 1875, Burt finished her substitute assignment and acquired a
new position as substitute principal. She filled in for the principal 17 of the seventh and
eighth grades, while the regular teacher attended the County [Teachers'l Examination
for three days.18 She recorded the events of the daily lesson:
13Burt, "San Jose, Oct. 20,1875."
14Burt, "Nov. 15 Monday [1875]."
15Burt, "Nov. 29. [1875J."
16Jbid.
17At this point in time, principal meant the lead teacher of the higher levels.
18Burt, "Wednesday. Dec. l. [1875]."
42
The children say very funny things sometimes. In Number lesson the other
day the children were studying about ten.
They had told me how many two's (sic) in ten. I wanted them to see the
fives in ten. To help them see it I said "What is the same as ten cts. (sic) Little
Tommy Humphreys immediately said 'Three stick (sic) of candy.'"19
Her next entry was written on her nineteenth birthday, February 18, 1876.
She noted that she had graduated from the State Normal School and taught for eight
months afterward. Later, she was offered a teaching job in the Pala District in East San
] ose and accepted it. Her new position offered many benefits that she took advantage
of: a piano in the home in which she boarded, "a fine Library at school and plenty of
papers," and lesson-planning periods for preparation.20 The only disadvantage to her
new position was the rainy season. She and her students worked out an agreement that
there would be no school during heavy rains until the inclement weather passed.21
School resumed, however, when the rains subsided and Burt commented on her day
back after the storm:
I was sitting in my room writing this morning a few minutes after nine when
Willie Chipman came rushing in saying that the Ford children were on the
way to school. I asked Mr. C's advice and he thought I had better try it, so
we went. Willie brought Eddie Ford's horse to take me over the mudhole
near the school house. There were eight pupils. The Fords', Maddens', &
Willie. I think the children learned a good deal today. Mr. Madden carried
Lizzie home and at three oclock (sic) came and brought one [a horse] to the
corner here. I felt so grateful to him for doing it.22
Burt continued to enjoy her position in the Pala District and received flowers
and praise from her students and their parents. Her pupils worked hard and aimed to
please "Miss Burt." All was well until someone broke into the schoolhouse and stole
191bid.
20surt, "Pala District March 1, 1876."
21lbid.
22Burt, "Tuesday. March 7. [1876]."
43
"a box of slatepencilsl,] a lot of paper and our prettiest hanging basket."23 Class
resumed as normal, despite the fact that the thief was not caught. Burt noted how well
her students were doing in school: "Sam Fleming came into the school-house this
noon and had a talk about his lessons. He seems to be pleased with the way he is
getting along, said he has learned more this term than he has for the last three
terms. ,,24
Burt's next entry, written six months later, revealed that her Pala District
school had closed, that she substitute taught in Milpitas for a week, and then was
appointed to teach in the Fifth Grade at Reed Street. It was not an easy assignment for
her.
I had 52 on the Roll for a few days. It was very hard for me and I told the
trustees that I thought I should rather not be elected. Prof. Schuck said I must
go on. I taught a month and a day and was sick for four days. Mamma did
not want me to go on but I did and taught a wk. when I begun to feel sick
again. I gave up for I felt that it was wearing on me. I have not felt well
since. 25
Soon after, she received a job offer in Lockeford in San Joaquin County for
$80.00 a month salary.26 She visited the school room before she began the
assignment. "It looked very pleasant through the windows," was her only comment
regarding her new working environment.
On her first day of teaching in Lockeford in the Telegraph District, she was
visited by a School Trustee.
Oct. 16- Monday. Telegraph District.
At about half-past-eight this morning I went down to the school-house and
found there Trustee Smithson and twenty pupils. He brought up the registerbooks belonging to the desk and Library books. One of the girls and myself
2 3Burt, "Mar. 27, Monday. [1876]."
24Burt, "Apr. 5. Wednesday. [1876]."
25Burt, "Lockeford, Oct. 11, 1876."
26rbid.
44
swept out the school room then I said to Mr. S- 'Do you think there will be
any more if I wait an1'longer?' He said he guessed about all were there that
would come that day 7_-1 kind of thought perhaps he would go away then,
but as soon as the children were nicely in and seated he came walking in and
staid (sic) until eleven o'clock. If it had been my fIrst school I think it might
have bothered me, but as it was I didn't care. I got along nicely and think I
shall like very much (sic). The children seem nice. 28
This was not the only time Burt was visited by a school authority. On
November 6, 1876, she commented on a Superintendent who visited her class: "Supt.
Dunbar visited my school Friday morning. I think he was pleased with the teaching.
He spoke as tho' (sic) I might be a little more strict. I believe he complains about
something in every school.,,29
Although Burt experienced administrative oversight and supervision than
Powell, she still managed to do as she wished within the classroom and end the school
day when she wanted, at least until a fellow teacher (who could report Burt's actions to
a school offIcial) visited her unexpectedly:
Nov. 7 Tuesday. [18761
Today is election day. We were entitled to a holiday but we did not choose to
take it as all the children could come to school. I do not like to break in upon
the wk. during the fIrst days.
We had all our morning lessons as usual. After lunch we begun to wash
windows and washed them all--eight. It was nearly three o'clock when we
fInished. The children then wanted me to call school and let them go home
without reciting any more lessons, but read to them awhile. I was just
questioning if it would not be best to let them go right home as I felt pretty
tired, when some of them said that Mr. Proudfoot was just coming to visit the
school. He teaches at Hauck's Corners. I knew he wanted to see the school
so I rung the bell and we had lessons for an hour. The last fIve or ten minutes
I spent in reading to them from a fairy story, "Thumbling". (sic)3
They behaved splendidly while he was in. I generally feel pretty well satisfIed
with their behaviour (sic) anyway.
°
27This exchange between Burt and Tmstee Smithson indicates there was an uncertainty
about the tme size ofthe student body, despite the presence of the school register-books.
28Burt, "Oct. 16- Monday [1876j."
29Boo, "Nov. 6th. Monday evening. Tel. Dist. [1876)."
30Burt may be referring to the story of "Tom Thumb."
45
Willie Magrotty caught three or four flies and put them into the empty ink-well
in his seat. I had him throw them away, and then I told him that for every fly
I saw him trying to catch or any that he caught after this he would have to
remain after school and catch five mosquitoes. I am not inclined to think that
he will like to see flies in his inkwell so well after this. When I told Mrs.
Connell about what his punishment would be, how she did laugh!31
The next day, Burt wrote about the conditions in the Telegraph District school
system and rural schools like it in the California. A student of hers brought three more
students to the school which raised the enrollment in her class to about thirty pupils.
Her notes show that late enrollments like this were not unusual in small rural schools in
the nineteenth century. The state law that stated all children over age six were to attend
school was unenforceable. They went to school when household duties did not call
them away.
Once the new children entered Burt's class, they were very punctual and more
importantly, happy to learn as the following account of a reading lesson suggests. 32
We have had lots of hard study today at school and some fun too. We all had
a good hearty laugh while the C Class [was] reading for (sic) Haden Smithson
made such a funny answer. The children were to read the first four
paragraphs of the piece about the boy who deceived the farmers by crying
'The wolf is coming.' I often question them some about what they have read
to see if they have studied their lessons. Haden Smithson was telling about
the first time the boy called out that there was danger. To help him think I
said, "What did the boy do when the man went away?" He answered quick as
a flash, "He laughed in his shirt sleeves." The story said, "He laughed in his
sleeve. ,,33
Burt's next entry, written on Wednesday, November 15, 1876, revealed more
of her teaching methods, which included the tracking of classes by labeling them
"Class A, B, and c." She noted a spelling lesson that confused one student:
Morgan Elam made a funny mistake today. I have some of the poorer readers
pronounce their sentences before they read, this is commence at at (sic) the
31Burt, "Nov. 7 TuesdaY.lI876J."
32Boo, "Nov. 8. Wednesday lI876]."
33Burt, "Nov. 9th Thursday. T. D.lI876)."
46
end of the sentence and tell the words backwards. One of the sentences for
the C Class had the word grasshopper in it. Grass was on one line, and
hopper on the next. When Morgan pronounced it he said hopper-grass. I am
not surprised at his making the mistake.3 4
Later she taught the pupils how to spell different kinds of foods:
The A & B Class are now spelling the names of different articles of food. I
write down words, which they think of each day for the next days lesson.
They were quite amused when I put down frogs under the head of Meat.35
Burt's teaching methods earned her praise among the community. She wrote
about a compliment she received from one of the parents whose children she taught.
Mrs. Brownell seemed very much pleased with school yesterday. She said
that Mr. Smithson told her I was the most orderly woman he ever saw; also,
that he wanted to keep me just as long as I would stay. She said that her
children thought I was the best teacher that ever was and that she hoped I
would stay three or four years. I told her that I had a sister coming on which
perhaps they could have when I was through. 36
The children enjoyed their teacher so much that they did their best to please her; in tum,
they pleased themselves. She wrote, "School has passed off well today. The children
all seem interested. Several asked today if they could speak next Friday. They did not
have to speak for two wks. (sic)"37 Her creativity was key to her success in the
classroom.
One creative lesson that Burt introduced was to start a student newspaper
called "The Centennial Busy Bee." In the first edition of the newspaper, Burt wrote
the editorial that introduced the project to the community that supported the Telegraph
District. She explained that her class would include stories written by the students each
34Burt,
35Burt,
3 6Burt,
3 7Boo,
"Nov. 15, 1876."
"Nov. 16. Thursday. [1876]:'
"Dec. 10. Sunday afternoon. T. D. 2 o'clock. [1876J."
"Dec. 11. Monday. T. D. [1876]."
47
week so that the paper could be read Friday afternoons. The beginning of the editorial
explained the newspaper's mission:
We have all returned from our fall trip to the Centennial and new we feel
ready for work. If you glance at the heading of our paper on any No. you
will see the motto--"Work and Win." We know we are working and we feel
sure of winning. We don't mean to have it all work either for every Friday
afternoon we shall set aside one half hour from our studies in which to amuse
ourselves and friends in any way our teacher sees fit. As we study our
History, Geography, etc. we sometimes write down what we have learned.
We shall save these papers carefully and publish them in the "Centennial Busy
Bee")8
The newspaper project carried the class through the fall and early winter months and
the newspaper was a successful lesson for the students.
Burt closed the Telegraph District school for the holidays on December 22,
1876, and organized an Exhibition which the school held in the community church.
The evening consisted of entertainment and a drama entitled "The Last Loaf." Her
students, Luther, Howard, and Horace participated in the play, as did another student,
Ida, who acted as a main character in a "farce." The Exhibition brought in $60.00
from the spectators and the proceeds were used to purchase a bell for the schoolhouse. 39 Burt's involvement and extra effort in special projects and events went
beyond the daily classroom duties: again she proved herself a devoted and successful
educator.
Burt's popularity led the school trustees to ask her to return the following term
in February, 1877. She was in charge of a class of thirty-four that included students as
old as seventeen. Burt commented about one of her pupils who was in need of a
caring, resourceful teacher who would help her improve her skills:
38Burt, "Dec. 12, 1876."
39Burt, "Sunday. Dec. 31,1876. Burt's Ranch--Amador Co., Cal."
48
Lizzie Scott, a young lady of 17 yrs. of age has been attending school about
four wks. She has a Third Grade Certificate. My classes were very much
crowded having hers extra so I let her hear two reading classes in the
morning, and Haden Smithson a Writing Spelling Class in the afternoon. 40
This student was a victim of unenforced school laws and quite possibly sexism in
education which placed a low priority on teaching girls. Her reading level should not
have been so low if state education legislation had been followed. Fortunately for
Lizzie, she was assisted by a very gifted teacher.
Another student of Burt's was a thirteen-year old boy who could neither read
nor write. Under Burt's care, he rapidly improved in both skills and demonstrated
talents in mathematics:
There is one boy thirteen yrs. old who entered four weeks ago lacking a day.
He had not been to school a whole month in all put together before. He read
dreadfully in the Third Readers; didn't know a figure or letter in writing. I
took him in hand and showed him how to write. Now he can read quite
nicely, reads an (sic) writes No. adds them and next Monday will commence
subtraction with the rest of the class.
Every day he writes 15 hard words from his reader, on his slate as a spelling
lesson. Wed. he missed only 1, today 3.
They were the words believe, deceive, and threaten. I did not notice that he
was getting along as fast until some of my older pupils spoke about it.41
Burt's hard work clearly paid off when her students themselves commented on their
progress. "Lizzie Scott tells me that Frankie Sunnafrank thinks he never learned so
fast as he has since he came to Miss Burt's school. I like to have the children
themselves feel that they are learning. ,,42
Burt's entry of May 2, 1877, notes that the Telegraph District school was
closed for a few weeks and that she went back to San Jose to attend the Normal School
40Burt, "Feb. 8. Thursday [18771."
41Burt, "Feb. 10. Sat. [1877J Telegraph District."
42Boo, "Feb. 28. Wed. eve. [1877)."
49
Alumni gathering during her vacation. When she returned, she took her students to the
May Day picnic in Lodi where several other schools gathered as well. She saw ten of
her former students from the Mokelumne District who were delighted to see her:
Emma Anderson came up to me early in the day and said that hopes of seeing
me was the principal reason why she came to the picnic. Little Willie Cowden
ran up to me and caught hold of my hand. The Kings and some of the
Thompsons were there, also Mrs. Davies and Addie Cowden. I had a nice
long chat with Charlie Deady.43
After she took the students to the picnic in Lodi, Burt did not write another
entry for two years and five months. In her journal she notes that she closed the
Telegraph District school in June and ended the school year with a joint picnic with
another schoo1. Each school had exercises on a raised platform where they sang while
Burt played the organ. Unfortunately, the platform "gave way and ... went to the
ground."
I had risen from my organ as I managed to hold it up until some gentleman
relieved me, and helped me out. It seemed so funny I just laughed and
laughed. Ada came up to me and said 'Don't, Minnie, I think it is dreadfu1.'
People afterward told me that I had a good deal of pluck to hold up my organ
so quietly. Anyway, I did not want my organ to be broken.44
Burt's "pluck" certainly helped her overcome situations in most of her career and she
maintained her humor as wel1.
Burt was asked to return the next term, but she accepted a position at Sutter
"though the salary was only $70 per month, on account of its being near home."45
Despite the low salary, she bought a house with her mother in January of 1878 for
$1100.00. She wrote, "I should rather of spent my money in some other way, but
Papa could not have bought this place if! had not assisted him.'46 The fact that Burt
4 3Burt, "May 2, 1877."
44B'llrt, "Amador City, Nov. 30, 1879."
4 5Ibid.
46Ibid.
5
°
helped her mother and father buy a home points out a major difference between Burt
and Powell. Although both women earned similar salaries, Burt purchased property
while Powell could not. Burt's family pooled their resources in order to buy a home,
while Powell could rely only on herself.
Burt also differed with Powell on the subject of marriage. Burt wished to
marry until she realized that it was possible to remain single and take contentment from
her life and accomplishments. She wrote in her journal that she was being courted by
Mr. George Hewitt, a man whom she expected to marry. In the Spring of 1880, he
told her that"... he hoped that this was the last time I should ever come over to
school. I cannot tell. I wonder sometimes if I am not full as happy as those who are
tied down by family cares. ,,47 If Burt had married Hewitt, it would have been a great
loss for the pupils who relied upon her guidance because she would have to stop
teaching. She decided to take some time to travel and to think over the prospect of
marriage.
Burt's school closed for the summer on July 16, 1880 and she took a summer
vacation in Massachusetts, visiting family members. While on vacation, Burt tutored
her cousin, Gertrude. "Gertrude has a new Second Reader, and has started school this
morning. Frank and I walked up to the school with her. We have been trying to teach
her the first lesson. Her teacher is Miss Emma Kingsbury of Wellesley. I think she
will be ambitious and learn fast. ,,48 While she was enjoying her vacation, she received
a telegraph that offered her a new teaching job at the Drytown school but she declined.
When she returned to California on November 30, 1880, she spent some time with her
family.
4 7Burt, "May 24,1880."
48Burt, "Sept. 6, 1880. Monday."
51
By January, 1881, Burt was back in the classroom as a paid substitute teacher
for her church's Sunday school. She taught in the Sunday School because Hewitt did
not want her working in the public schools. Going along with Hewitt's wishes, Burt
wrote in her diary entry of January 31, 1881, "I begun attending S. School with the
new year. I prefer not to take a class but supply whenever a teacher is absent.
Yesterday I taught Mrs. Roundy's class which is a real nice one. ,,49
Burt's February 18 entry gives clues about the status of her relationship with
George Hewitt:
Feb. 18, 1881. Friday.
This is my twenty-fourth birthday. How old I am getting to be! It is a
perfectly lovely day. I am sitting in my room writing. There are no fires
anywhere in the house. I often wonder what my future will be in a
matrimonial way. I came to the conclusion about Christmas that Geo. and I
were not the ones for each other. I know he feels bad about it, and I am sorry
for him, but I think it is best as it is. 50
Soon after this entry, Burt ended her relationship with Hewitt and she returned
to the public school classroom. By July, 1881, Burt had secured a position at a school
in the Cambrian District in San Jose.
July 25, 1881. Cambrian Dist. Suburbs of San Jose.
I begun school here last week Monday with twenty-five pupils. Today I had
thirty-six and think I shall soon have still more.
My Trustees are O. C. Wells, John Brewster and Joe Burnett. My salary
is $65 a month. The school will last five months. I like [it] here very much
and the children are good and general1y quite smart tho' (sic) they are not very
far advanced.
I board at Daniel Ross' house--beside Mrs. Ross there is a niece &
nephew Lyddie and Lyonan and a grandson Bertie Paddock in the family...
I am going to board with Mrs. Brown on Sat. & Sun. paying $1. each
week to them. I go back and forth on the cars-, costing 20 cents each way.
in on Friday night at 4.30 and come out
The train goes so that I can
Sunday night at 5.40 (sic). 1
flO
49Burt, January, 1881.
50Burt, "Feb. 18, 1881. Friday."
51Burt, "July 25, 1881."
52
This particular diary entry reveals the difference between Burt's and Powell's
work environments as the school system changed. School attendance increased
because of large population growth and enforcement of mandatory attendance for
children over age six. The Trustees were all male, indicating that women were
subordinate to men and women did not hold positions of authority in education. That
the children were "smart" but not "far advanced" suggests that some school districts
were not wealthy enough to give students a competitive, above-average education on
the frontier. Similarly, Burt and Powell boarded with families near their school; yet,
Burt rode on the trains to and from school which showed that technology was
improving beyond what was available to Powell. Another major difference between
the two teachers was their sense of job satisfaction.
While at the Cambrian District school, Burt was very happy and enjoyed the
beauty of her surroundings as well as the children she instructed. Her geography
lessons were creative. "I am having my pupils draw maps. They have drawn
N[ orth ].A[merica]. and are now at work upon S[outh].A[merical. The clerk of the
board, Mr. Wells, brought a box of colored crayons, for us, so now the children will
have an extra indusement (sic) to try to draw well."52 She received praise, as usual,
from Superintendent Chipman who visited her class on August 26, 1881: "He said
that he had never visited a school where the order was better. He spent the whole
afternoon. The children are doing very nicely if I do say it.,,53 Her relationship with
her students was very good and she praised their progress. "School is going very
nicely. In two weeks there has been only one tardy mark. (sic) such an improvement
from the first month."54
52Boo, "Aug. 10 Wednesday. [18811."
53Burt, "Friday. Aug. 26. [1881]."
54Burt, "Slmday. Sept. 11, 1881."
5 3
Burt's comments on her classroom activities portray her as a gifted teacher
who put in many hours to prepare for the day's lessons or special projects. The same
amount of work went into making exams for the students. "This is an examination
week in my school, and I have been looking over papers and making out questions for
an hour or two. Of course it makes it harder for the teacher for a few days, but in the
days between the children work enough harder to pay for it. I think some of my pupils
are doing exceedingly well. ,,55 After the exams, the school closed in late November
for the holiday season and Burt spent most of her time with her family in San Jose and
Amador County. She planned to reopen the school in March of 1882 after a new
school-house was completed. She reported that the new school would cost not
$2000.00, but $1097.00. Until the school reopened, Burt substitute taught while
living in Amador County.
Burt's next entry was written four years later on February 18, 1886. She
lived at 226 Second Street in San Jose. On her twenty-ninth birthday, she wrote the
highlights of the past few years:
This is my third year of teaching in San Jose. The fIrst year I taught the
Fourth Grade of Hester rschool], and the next year I was elected as Vice
Principal. I have charge of the branch school in Sunol St. with Rose Denne
as assistant. My school closes at half past two, which makes it very pleasant
for me. 56
Her Vice Principalship was quite a career advancement for Burt. She was promoted
based on her ability to maintain orderly classrooms and give creative lessons.
Burt's last diary entry is dated February 18, 1889, which was her thirtysecond birthday. During the three preceding years, she had continued teaching at the
Hester School in San Jose. "This term's work will finish my sixth year in Hester
55Burt, "Oct. 3, 1881- Monday."
56Burt, February 18, 1886.
54
School. I still hold the position of Vice Principal with Rose Denne as Asst. (sic)"57
She also actively participated in lecturing at the County Teachers' Institute where her
name was on the program in 1887 and 1888. In 1887, she "had charge of Sec. B in
Language work--and in '88 was asked to speak on Eutonalogy.,,58
The final pages of Burt's journal contain newspaper articles that marked the
death of her parents in 1896. Her mother, Orilla Burt, died on October 7, 1896, and
her father, Benjamin Burt, followed his wife to the grave a week later on October 14,
1896. The obituary mentioned that Clara Burt had been teaching at the Hester School
for thirteen years and was still enjoying a successful career. There was no other
information about the still single Burt in her parents' obituary, and her diary pages
offer no information about her life thereafter. She does not appear to have been buried
in the San Jose area, because her grave was not by her parents' graves in Oak Hill
Cemetery, the main burial grounds in San Jose. 5 9 There is no indication of what
happened to Clara Burt after 1896. The only certainty was that she was an extremely
gifted teacher who endeared herself to her students, their parents, her family, and her
community.
Burt's diary entries reveal how different her life was from Elizabeth Powell's.
First, Burt seemed to enjoy her teaching duties more and taught in a public school more
often than Powell. In contrast, Powell taught privately for families and taught public
school only in Pike City and Oakland. Burt's increased opportunity to teach in public
schools may have been a consequence of population growth in California and the
57Burt, "344 ('1) St. San Jose. Feb. 18, 1889."
58Ibid. The definition for Eutonalogy is unknown.
5 9rhis author personally searched for the Burt family grave and only found the gravesites for
her parents. Clara Burt was not in the cemetary's records.
55
increasing number of school districts in the Bay area. 60 Secondly, Burt lived in
boarding houses, but did not "board round" with her employers (with the exception of
her first assignment in the Mokelumne District). Burt had greater opportunity for
privacy in her living situation which also meant greater chances for outside social
activities, friendship, and courtship. Powell, on the other hand, had no choice about
where she lived and boarded only with the families she taught.
Powell did not have a
lot of privacy, which hindered courtship and her search for a suitable mate.
Thirdly, the major difference between the two teachers themselves was how
they recorded and emphasized daily events in their diaries. Powell focused on her
life's frustrations, unhappy events, and her wishes for a husband and a home. Burt,
on the other hand, recorded the daily events in the classroom, focusing less on her
feelings and sociallife--though the reader still gets a good sense of Burt's personality
through her writings.
In spite of their differences, the two teachers had much in common. They
both had to clean their own school-houses. They both experienced difficulty in getting
paid on time. They both dealt with undereducated pupils who were below skill levels
for their ages. Lastly, they both attended the Teachers' Institute.
Clara Burt was a "new model" of a "secular" teacher who emphasized God
less. She still followed the virtues of the Cult of True Womanhood, but society
allowed for a little change in the way women perceived themselves, which meant that
women were expected to be educated and more independent, but remain in "feminine"
60According to Richard B. Rice, William A. Bullough, and Richard J. Orsi, The Elusive
Eden: A New History of California (San Francisco: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1988), the population within
San Francisco was approximately 56,000 in 1862 (page 311) and grew to be the ninth largest city in
the nation by 1880 with 234,000 people (page 261). State-wide, California was growing rapidly as
well. In 1848, the Gold Rush brought droves of people to the state with the population totals moving
from 6,000 to 20,000 in that year alone (page 178). The state population of 1875 was estimated to be
at 800,000; by 1880 it was 865,00; by 1900, the estimated population was 1.5 million (page 311).
56
roles such as "caretaker," "nurturer," and mother. Burt was content to remain single
and did not feel an "emptiness" because she did not have a husband and a baby. Sarah
Treat Child was even more of a "secular" woman than Burt and more of a "New
Woman" than a "True Woman." She was not religious, accepted little responsibility
for teaching morality to her students, and resisted marriage for years because she did
not want to give up her freedom.
57
Chapter Four
The Sarah Treat Child Collection, 1885-1920
Sarah Treat Child taught in Snelling, Niles, Antioch, and Oakland, California
from 1885 to 1893. During these years, she maintained active correspondence with
her best friend, May Crittenden, and husband-to-be, George Child. Child emerges
from her letters as a woman strikingly different from Elizabeth Powell and Clara Burt:
independent, intellectual, and outspoken. Child did not subscribe to the "true woman"
standards of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Instead, she was
agnostic, assertive, and so far removed from the cult of domesticity that she refused to
learn to cook or read magazines like The Ladies' Home Journal. 1 However, like many
"New Women, she eventually married and gave up her teaching career.
II
Although Sarah Treat Child, who will be referred to by her maiden name
Treat, had a more modem mindset and approach to teaching from Powell and Burt, she
experienced the same problems they did teaching in an evolving frontier school system.
By the time she began her teaching career, society was more prosperous and
interdependent because of the growth of industry and transportation. Education had
higher priority since literacy and the knowledge of vocational skills were important for
earning a living. In fact, Treat was a graduate of and earned her teaching credentials
through the University of California at Berkeley, which had a growing number of
women students. Though California society had progressed and her school system
had become more structured, Treat still had to adjust to the lack of privacy in her living
1"Sade" (Sarah Treat Child) to George Child. March 22. 1891. The Sarah Treat Child
Collection. 1885-1920 (73/162c), The Bancroft Library. University of California. Berkeley. All letters
cited hereafter are from the Sarah Treat Child collection of correspondence.
5 8
arrangements, as well as high student absenteeism, salary issues, such as getting paid
on time, missing loved ones, and problems relating to courtship.
Treat's correspondence begins in 1885 in a letter that gives a few details about
her school in Snelling, California: "It is about time to dismiss, i.e. 'tis nearly 3: (sic)
The 6 little ones went out at 2:30 and the three older ones are studying their geography
and grammar. ,,2 The small number of students was common for rural schools like
hers. A later letter, written to May Crittenden, reveals that Treat was hired at the
school to replace a previous teacher, Miss Gompertz, who did not satisfy the Trustees'
and Superintendent's expectations. Treat had better luck: "... I have won their hearts
by giving the children plenty of homework. ,,3
Though she met the expectations of her superiors and "won their hearts," the
salary she received did not quite win hers. She made comments to May about earning
less money than a fellow teacher. "A Baptist minister Mr. Drumm from San Francisco
or Oakland teaches now. He has a family there (gets $80 here)." Realizing that
Drumm's salary was more than her own, Treat sarcastically and jokingly told May that
they, too, should "marry" so Treat could get a wage increase. "If he can support a
family in San Fran (sic) on $80 I can support a wife here on $70, so next year, when
my debts are paid I shall have the ceremony performed and presents given, etc....
Now consider yourself engaged. "4 Treat's proposal to her dear friend May captures
her frustration over pay inequity in the school systems and the close bonds of women's
friendships in the nineteenth century. Treat's and Crittenden's strong bond of
friendship is apparent "connectedness" throughout their correspondence.
2"Sade" to May Crittenden, Sept. 24-25, 1885. Thursday, Snelling.
3"Sade" to May, October 7, 1885, Snelling.
4Ibid.
59
Treat's next letter of October 16, 1885, returns to her students and offers more
details about them and the lessons she taught. She introduced her pupils to calisthenics
twice a day to rid them of muscle aches they acquired from sitting on hard, wooden
benches. Later, she searched for literature like children's books, as she wished to
introduce them to the classics of literature, but found that the library in the Snelling
school was limited. She checked out Paradise Lost and "tried to explain them in
simplest terms possible, such as 'God got angry and so brought his army of pure
angels together to go to fight the devil with his army of bad angels.' Some of my
terms made me laugh. I told them as we turned from picture to picture the story, and
what do you think the little heathens had never heard the story of Adam and Eve and
didn't know there were such things as commandments. I didn't know such children
existed."
Treat explained that there had not been a Sunday School in her area for years
and that the nearest one was too far away and had irregular meetings. The lack of
Sunday school teaching and Bible lessons was typical of some parts of California that
still resembled the "frontier." Subscribing to the traditional call of Republican
Motherhood and True Womanhood to women to inculcate moral values, but resisting
Beecher's image of the teacher as a religious evangelizer. Treat commented, "I didn't
teach them God's Holy Word on the spot," she told May, "but I did dwell a little upon
morality by showing how this whole story plainly told us, that one disobedient bad act
brought so much bad.... It would seem wicked to you, to have heard me.... Yet I
was in earnest. I wanted to bring 'Paradise Lost' within their reach rather than God's
work. How the youngsters laughed when I told them the 'rib part of Adam."'5
5"Sade" to May, October 16, 1885, Snelling. It is unclear if Treat was actually teaching
this book, but rather referring to it in her lessons. It is ironic, due to her agnosticism, that she would
rather teach about Adam and Eve than about religious skepticism.
60
The revelation that school children in the West did not know God would have
horrified early teachers like Catharine Beecher and Elizabeth Powell. Treat, herself,
was more secular than they and taught in a more secular environment than either
Elizabeth Powell or Clara Burt. In the 1880s-1890s, school systems emphasized the
teaching of morality as a way of keeping students on their good behavior. Treat's
lesson on Paradise Lost is a good example of the new approach.
Teaching morality was a challenging task for Treat since she was not religious
and attended church and Sunday School6 only to avoid community censure. In a letter
to May on October 22, 1885, Treat wrote about how she attended Sunday school and
participated in the lessons so that she might appear to be a member of the church
congregation. "I must tell you about Sunday School," she wrote May, "The lesson
was in Kings!!, Chapter X. How much do you suppose I know Jehonodat and Ahab?
I wished then that I were either you or Frank, but I was very silent to all questions as
to the story, but when the questions turned to those right or wrong, I launched out onto
some of my morality and the teacher is convinced that I am a Church member. He is
my co-worker at Snelling. ,q Later, her disposition to appear religious weakened. She
did not want to attend services because she thought it was "a waste of time. ,,8
Clearly, Treat was a typical "New Woman." She hinted at her agnostic beliefs
in an earlier letter to May, but she elaborated more on her secular viewpoints in this
one.
I think you and I have argued the question, or rather talked about it when you
wouldn't grow mad and disgusted at my agnosticism. Yours is the feeling in
the immortality of the soul, mine is universal "don't knowism" and
consequently because it can't be known I can't feel its truth. If you find
6Treat noted a specific time she attended church in her letter to May but did not state how
frequently she attended since services were not always available.
7"Sade" to May, October 22, 1885, San Francisco.
8"Sade" to May, December 7, 1885, Snelling.
6 I
consolation in the belief in immortality cling to it. I could never any more and
not as much as believing in the Catholic confessional. But the belief in
immortality will come to me only through spiritualism. I am so proud that
mamma and Aunt Hittie were of such broad minds and advanced ideas to
believe in it. Strange that their belief should develop into agnosticism in their
children. I have as you always known uphold spiritualism as the best and
highest, that is coming nearest the truth of science of any religion.9
Although Treat celebrated the "broad minds" of those close to her, she
displayed less open-mindedness. In fact, she took amusement from people who were
deeply religious. She received a letter from a fellow teacher, Nona Dibble, who was
quite religious. Upon reading Nona's letter, she found the religious content so
entertaining that she "laughed and laughed and did something dreadfully mean, read the
religious part to the [Robinson] familylO for their amusement. ... Am sorry I made so
much fun, but I didn't intend to be mean, only let others enjoy the funniness and the
consolation of religion, etc., the telling me of it is ridiculous. ,,11 Treat's anti-religious
behaviors and attitudes reflect the increased secularization and materialism of her
society and the independent thinking of the "New Woman." In a world of electricity,
street cars, and telephones, women like Treat focused less on piety, the virtues of
domesticity, and submissiveness.
Although she was an agnostic, Treat was not discriminated against when they
sought a teaching position. Further, Treat found many ways of securing approval: she
focused on her duties in the classroom, organized the school day to maximize learning,
and became a highly-skilled teacher.
Treat described a typical day to May:
Arithmetic from 9 til 10:40, recess til 11. Reading (5 classes) til 12. (2 in
second reader, 3 in 3 different parts of 3rd Reader, 2 in 4th Reader. As soon
9Ibid.
1 ~he timrily she boarded with in Snelling.
11"Sade" to May, December 7, 1885, Snelling.
62
as the others come I shall consolidate). 1 to 2 Oral Instruction and
Composition, some days Grammar, other days 2 to 2:30 writing. Little ones
dismissed; 2:30 to 3 Grammar (older pupils). 3:30 Geography. Dismiss.
That is how it is now when I have only 2 Grammar pupils, but when John
and Fred and the others come I must shorten recitations and condense. Carry
on 4 arithmetic classes together. Fractions (2 in class, Nell and Ben
R[obinsonD reading and writing of long numbers with addition and
subtraction of same (Frank and Flora R[obinson]). Long Division and
fractions (Walter R. and Frank T.) Addition and subtraction of numbers of 3
places with Roman Numbers. (George). For 1 hours, for the next 40
minutes, Fred in percentage, John in Algebra.1 2
Clearly, a rural teacher had to be very skilled, organized, and imaginative to
teach a small but disparate class. Treat's education at Berkeley most likely enabled her
to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to teach many subjects. She continued
telling May about how the students had never experienced "Written Mental Arithmetic"
before, nor had report cards. To help herself figure grades for each student, she gave
"weekly exams with a big written review at the end of the month.... I think
examinations will stimulate them in as much as they have never had them. ,,13
Treat reported in her letter of October 24, 1885, that the children performed
well in their examinations in Arithmetic, Spelling, and Reading. She wrote to May of
the upcoming exams:
Tomorrow there is Compo and Gram. (sic) I don't think any will receive over
90% average. Examinations are as wearing as a teacher as when a student but
without the anxiety and suspense. After school came home and made out the
Geography and Gram. and Compo questions. Twett's methods were a great
help. Haven't used it much before. Some excellent points in it as regards the
practice and method, think they are excellent because they agree with my
theories. A continuation of my school's ignorance on general topics I give a
great deal of time to general information in fact supplement each lesson from
the boundless stores of wisdom within my brain. It was the 4th Reader's
Class, Nellie and Ben, lesson in extract from Matthew "The Talents", I asked
them about the Bible, their knowledge was meagre enough. Explained the
best of my ability about the Bible. That's one subject I know not much about.
.. I then asked a few questions about Christ. Here is a specimen of the
answers. "Where was Christ born, Ben?" (age 14) "In England". Where
12"Sade" to May, October 22, 1885, San Francisco.
13Ibid.
63
Nellie? (12) "Back in the :Eastern States somewhere". Thank goodness I
happened to know that it was in Asia Minor so pointed the place on the
map.1 4
The fmal comments to May about teaching the children about Christ hints that
Treat perceived that her duties to teach morality as a responsibility. Though she
claimed to be an agnostic and laughed at deeply religious people, she, too, was an
"evangelizer" when she taught her students about morality.
Not only did Treat give instruction on moral virtue. She also offered her
friend, May, some insights into how she taught other subjects to her pupils:
"What are the ends of the earth called?", Frank Teldhaus sent his hand up with
a jerk and said, "How do you spell poles?", and George was stuck on how
long the earth took in moving, he couldn't read the question on the board, so I
read it as I would ask it, "How long does it take the earth to move?" and he
said outright, "24 hours". I impressed upon them the necessity of holding
their tongues in ex.[ercises] except when they wanted to borrow. I had some
difficulty in getting them to rule and number their papers correctly. Frank
Teldhaus's spelling on all his papers is after my own style, "Urp"
(Europe).15
After informing May about the daily school lessons, Treat wrote about the
Robinsons, the family with whom she boarded. Treat truly liked Mr. and Mrs.
Robinson and their grown children. One of the Robinson children was a young man
named Gus, who, like Treat, was a grade school teacher. Treat wrote that Gus had
lost his teaching position in the Hornitos School District because failed the teacher
examination. Treat felt that Gus's loss was unjust because he "works hard and the
[county schooll board were opposed to him." 16 His trustees were pleased with him,
yet it was not enough to keep him in the classroom. Treat explained the political nature
of the school district: "... the trustees are angry with the State Supt. and will not give
14"Sade" to May, October 24-25, 1885, Merced. Treat does not identify Twett.
15lbid.
16lbid.
64
the school to the applicant he wishes to put in.... The whole family are (sic) very
angry for they think it all a put up job. ,,17
Treat's story about Gus Robinson's situation shows how entrenched politics
and the state legislature were in the state school system. State mandates created
increased institutionalization in the school system, requiring teacher certification and
centralized administration in school districts. But, local politics affected schools and
teacher appointments as well, though in the case of Gus Robinson they were not strong
enough to enable him to retain the position.
Treat, however, was safe from losing her job since she was state certified and
a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Her skills in the classroom
earned her a good reputation as a teacher and she received job offers from other school
districts. She wrote May that she received a note from the Felton School District
"saying I should have the refusal of first vacancy. I will take nothing there but the
principalship. Must be on the outlook for a school nearer home [San Francisco1next
year, but Felton is too far and fare $5 as it is here and I couldn't come home as
often."18
After Treat refused the teaching position in Felton, she continued to write May
about the inclement weather she experienced in Snelling. Treat's letter described
school policy during rainstorms. Unlike Powell and Burt, Treat was required to attend
school even if students did not. Not going to school meant either a cut in her salary or
holding classes over the weekends to make up the lost days. As she explained to May,
"Do you ask 'Why did I go to x school (sic) when I knew no scholar would come?'
Because, if I go and report, i.e. open school, I draw my pay and don't if I don't go. I
17lbid.
18"Sade" to May, Halloween, 1885?
65
lose a day and would have to have some Saturday or Holiday." I9 This statement
shows a marked contrast with the experiences of Elizabeth Powell and Clara Burt: they
simply did not make any effort to open school in bad weather during the rainy season.
Though Treat had to report to work on days when there was inclement weather, she
did not mind going to the school. "Do you not call this easy work? Three children
first two days, none the third day, 3 the 4th (sic) day and of course 3 again tomorrow,
for the other children won't think it worth while coming one day in the week, and if it
rains again, none will come. I am glad of the easy time. ,,20
Treat spent some of her "easy time" thinking about the future. She told May
she intended taking music lessons. "I wish now more than ever that I could play," she
said. "It is such an acquisition for a country school marm. I could earn my board if I
knew how to play."21 She never mentioned thereafter if she ever took music lessons.
Had Treat become a music teacher like Powell, she could have increased her income by
giving music lessons to students.22
In November, 1885, Treat wrote May about the reading lessons she gave the
students and her attempt to make them more "worldly." She noted that she found it
hard to find stories appropriate to read to the children because the literature in S t.
Nicholas and Harper's Magazines was more for "children with wider observation,
particularly city children."23 She continued, "They enjoy more the stories for 'Little
Folks' in the end end (sic) yet they are old enough to appreciate better. It is hard for
me to realize that they know so little outside their own immediate lives. I talk as much
19"Sade" to May, November 6, 1885, Snelling.
2OJbid.
21Ibid.
22Ibid.
23"Sade" to May, November 15, 1885, Snelling.
66
as I can about outside things and I think it takes root. ,,24 Treat's report to May about
the "provincialism" of her students gives insight into what teachers often found in rural
communities. It is unclear what Treat considered "outside things," but given her
intelligence and interest in literature, she probably discussed national and political
events, society and community events, and well-known authors including her favorite,
George Eliot.
Given her interests, it is not surprising that Treat missed her friends and the
cosmopolitan life of San Francisco. Treat revealed often in her correspondence to May
Crittenden how she missed her and wished she were closer to her. While maintaining
a sense of independence in her letters, she seemed truly to long for her friends and the
familiar surroundings of home as when she wrote, "I am not homesick for city life or
books or theatres (sic) or company in fact I like this being where no one ever calls but
if I only had you. ,,25 Her loneliness for May was the main reason she thought of
resigning from the school near Snelling and returning home to San Francisco. 26
Treat's friendship is a good example of "female bonding" that was characteristic of
women in the nineteenth century.27
Though Treat wished to move home, she continued to work in Snelling. She
gave examinations to her students and commented on the answers the students gave.
Examination papers are such funny things. Frank Telahaus's answers are
funniest. "Grammar is to teach us sense." "Caflick (sic) and prosand (sic)
andjous (sic) and China." Is his answer to "What religion have men?"
Highest percentage this month 87, lowest 75. Frank Robinson got sulky
because he couldn't answer 2nd question in Geography and wouldn't answer
but one. Although he got over his sulks, time was gone to retrieve 10% in
24Ibid.
2S"Sade" to May, November 17, 1885, Snelling.
26"Sade" to May, November 29, 1885, Snelling.
27See Carroll Smith-Rosenberg's article, "The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations
Between Women in Nineteenth Century America." in Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in
Victorian America. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 53-76 for more information.
67
Geography, which the one question brought him. He is sulkier than Flora.
Today I wanted to make out register, so set them to writing incorrect
sentences to give to each other to correct. They thought it huge. 28
Treat's students were not the only ones who thought assignments were
difficult to master. Treat, too, found it hard to come up with tasks and assignments for
all the different levels of students in her classroom. She had two new students who
started school on December 1, 1885, and she was not sure how to handle them. Treat
provides an interesting commentary again on the diversity that nineteenth-century
school teachers often confronted in their classrooms. One student was an "overgrown
girl of fourteen, somewhat wild and unprincipled. ,,29 She appeared to be concerned
that the girl might need stronger discipline. Another student was a thirteen-year old
boy who was a beginning reader and had a lame arm that had not properly healed.
"The little fellow had his arm broken and it was never set, so it is bust and withered.
He can use it slightly. But I hate to have calisthenics now that he has come and can't
participate. He has a bad humor (sic) on his face and hands and the flies--so numerous
at this time of year--will persist in staying on the open sores until my sensitive stomach
almost compels me to give up hearing his lesson. I don't know how I shall do with a
beginner [I] have never had one before. ,,30 The issues she faced in accommodating
the needs of students gave Treat challenges which helped her be a better teacher.
Treat's concern about meeting classroom challenges was accompanied by a
concern and frustration over getting paid on time. Much like Elizabeth Powell and
Clara Burt, Treat experienced problems receiving her warrant3 ! in a timely fashion.
When she tried to collect her money from the man (probably a school district clerk)
28"Sade" to George Child, November 25, 1885, Snelling.
29"Sade" to May, December I, 1885, Snelling.
3 Orbid.
3 1A voucher authorizing payment or receipt of money.
68
who distributed the teachers' pay, he did not respond as she would have wished. She
explained, "Of course, now that my month is up, I wanted my money, so yesterday
when I went in, I endorsed my warrant, but, it makes me so annoyed, he had to get a
second trustee to sign it and because he had to walk 1/2 mile in the mud, he wouldn't
get it. ... So I haven't gotten my money and don't know when I will get it in these
times of rains. ,,32 Not getting paid on time was a frustration for all teachers who
needed to pay for their transportation, boarding places, and travel home. At this time,
the practice of "boarding around" was no longer popular. Instead, women teachers
rented rooms in boarding houses or rented from families not associated with the
school. Treat's frustrations built up so much that she wished to resign from her
position in Snelling and openly remarked to May, "Wish I knew that I could resign and
fill [the report] out. The Supt. (sic) has never withheld last month's salary...,,33
Treat eventually did resign and left Snelling to return home to San Francisco until her
next appointment.
Approximately a year and a half went by before Treat resumed her
correspondence. In the letter of July 10, 1887, she wrote from a vacation spot in
Roaring Camp near Felton, California. The letter is addressed to Mr. George Child,
her husband-to-be, whom Treat was to marry after six years of courtship. She
informed George that she would start teaching in the rural community of Niles,
California, and open school in August, 1887. She wanted to discuss with him when
he thought she should open the school.
Treat's request for guidance from her suitor reflects the "second stage" in her
correspondence. In her letter to Child, Treat appears less independent and is inclined
32"Sade" to George Child, November 25, 1885, Snelling.
33"Sade" to May, December 8, 1885, Snelling.
69
to seek emotional and financial support from her fiancee; further, her views of marriage
begin to change. In addition, she wrote fewer letters to May Crittenden as she focused
more on her letters to George, and she discussed her classroom less often. Treat's
perceptions of what she wanted in life remained strong as she debated domesticity and
marriage. For a long while, she did not wish to marry George, resisting the thought of
being a house wife instead of a "career girl." These independent attitudes surface in the
letters in which Treat badgered George into giving her what she wanted, whether this
was writing her more often or agreeing with her opinions on his personal affairs.
Essentially, she was the decision-maker in the relationship and her forthright and
outspoken approach developed into a "bossy" tone; yet George did not seem to
mind.34
Treat's strong personality was probably useful when she began her
assignment in Niles. She wrote George that the "Niles school is a happy
disappointment. It has had a very hard reputation. Even Mr. Dunn shook his head
sadly and doubtfully over my handling it. While I anticipated no serious trouble, I
thought I might fmd some parts, perhaps a little difficult to manage. Have found it as
pleasant as I could desire. ,,35 She had forty children in her class and taught first grade
with "No very large boys." She expected to have fifty-six children in her class when
"picking and packing" season ended. 36 Her teaching situation was rather a significant
change from the school in Snelling because it was a larger group of students in a less
isolated community.
34rhis knowledge comes from the research this author has done on the entire collection of
Sarah Treat Child's correspondence. The entire text has not been included because not all is relevant to
the topic of teaching. However, for more insight into her personality and her relationship with George
Child, see The Sarah Treat Child Collection. 1885-1920 (73/162c), The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley.
35"Sade" to George, N. D., 1887, Niles Canyon.
36lbid.
70
Treat's boarding situation was as pleasant as her schoo1. The only complaints
she had about the boarding place were about the "masculine" pillow shams and the
sloping ceiling in her bedroom which was too low for her head. She appeared to enjoy
her teaching position at Niles, although she wrote little about her teaching or her
pupils. She eventually ceased writing from the community in 1887 until her
correspondence resumed in May, 1889.
By this time, Treat had left the Niles school and was living in San Francisco
at 305 Jones Street. She may have been looking for work because she applied for a
position in Santa Cruz for a salary of $110.00 per month.37 A letter, dated July 27,
1889, revealed that George wanted her to quit teaching in order to marry him. Instead
she took a teaching position in Antioch.
While in Antioch, Treat received her Alameda County Teaching Certificate
which qualified her for teaching positions in all the schools within the county.38 She
offers little information about her circumstances in the community, however, Antioch
was more rural than the other places in which she had taught. When she did discuss
the school, she mentioned that there was a dance in the school house and that many
people were expected to attend. 39 She gave a brief description of her school house
during the rainy season that reveals that she could surmount almost any challenge:
"This adobe sticks tighter than grim death.... Had only a few scholars. Sat calmly
working an example by fire when stove pipe toppled over just grazing my chair.
Children frightened then amused. I mounted table and chair on top--fixed it only to
have it fall again. That was getting monotonous. So I mounted again. Thought I
37"Sade" to George, May 12, 1889, Niles.
3 g"Sade" to George, August 20, 1889, Lone Tree.
39"Sade" to George, September 8,1889, Lone Tree.
7 1
might just as well be killed by table and chair falling as stove-pipe. But by second
endeavor were (sic) very successful. ,,40
Treat also wrote that she had started tutoring a pupil, perhaps for additional
income, through the Society for the Encouragement of Home Study. "I have a pupil
and must begin at once. When I accepted the position--which Mrs. Prentiss has fIlled
for 15 years, I fully expected that May Treat [her sisterl would be here, to draw upon
her lectures and her pictures. I'll have to do some little studying and planning. Such a
splendid excuse for me--so much better [an excuse to leave schoo1l, than 'Train's
coming--Must hitch up' etc. (sic) I can now say 'Must write my pupil."'41
Five months later on May 15, 1890, Treat wrote George from Oakland,
where she had secured a new teaching position. She was on the faculty of the Durant
School and was already planning her summer vacation to Yosemite. Treat does not
reveal how she gained this new position, but she remained in Oakland for the next
three years. Her letters from this time focus more on her personal feelings about
marriage--she was against the idea--and news of family and friends.
In these letters, however, Treat offers some information about the lessons she
taught and her feelings about teaching:
Yesterday and today my class have been steadily modeling or rather
molding a map of Asia. They have boards 16 x 20 which they have painted
blue in class, and now they are deep in putty. I ought to have dabbled in it
myself so as to be able to give better instruction, most of the other teachers
have. But I'm not ambitious enough in that line. The children all made one
last year so they know much more about it than I do, so I simply supervise
and keep them from whispering too much. I think since having the practical
work, I don't believe quite so much in the beautiful theory of moulding. I
fmd that having made one last year, the novelty has worn off and they--some
few expected--don't care much about it. But I'm glad to have had the
experience, so to pass judgement.42
40"Sade" to George, N. D., 1889, Lone Tree.
41Ibid.
42"Sade" to George, May 15, 1890, Durant School, Oakland.
72
Treat's comments suggest that there was now a state-mandated curriculum which
required that certain subjects, such as geography, be taught at specific times during the
school year and throughout the course of a child's elementary education.
Treat did not only criticize prescribed lesson plans, but she also found fault in
her supervisors. She wrote of a school superintendent whom she disliked:
"Examination in Arithmetic tomorrow from Supt.
his littleness (sic).
Think of the papers to correct.,,43 This comment and her lack of enthusiasm for the
required lessons hinted that teaching was wearing on her and that she was less willing
to stay in the profession. Nevertheless, her school principal liked her and
complimented her work. "My principal thanked Robert4 4 for introducing me into the
department and is pleased with my work. At least this is what Mr. Burk writes.
Forgive the little pleasure in my personal success. I have felt as if Mr. Dunbar didn't
like me, as if I were too young. ,,45 Knowing that she was well liked by her principal
made her feel better about continuing her teaching career.
Soon after she wrote George of her teaching situation in Oakland, Treat went
on a summer vacation to Yosemite and Tulare. Writing to George from these places,
Treat repeated that she did not wish to marry and live far away from her friends. "I
just could not live this way," she declared. "I have dim visions of having to live in
Albany or any other Oregon town, and oh, woe. I couldn't and what's more I won't.
I can't assimilate with people. I can't be social--the social instinct is left out of me ..
. . I don't mind work--but it must be of a congenial kind. A kitchen has always been a
43Jbid.
44Presumablya fellow teacher or a school official.
4S"Sade" to George, N. D., 1890?, Tulare.
73
mystery to me. I have never been in a position to know its arts, until now.... I don't
want to be married. I can take care of myself. ,,46
Treat also explained that she felt marriage would rob her of her freedom: "
marriage makes such a difference to me, while with you, it's all gain (considering what
I am).... I must give up more than you. Now until I can be just as willingly as you
are, I shan't be married. ,,47 Treat's desire not to enter a conventional marriage clearly
reflects the ideology of the "New Woman". In the l880s-l89Os, women remained
single longer and felt contented with a decision not to marry. Treat's dialogue on
marriage incorporates a vision of the "reshaped" egalitarian marriage the "New
Woman" advocated. For the time being, Treat's views against marriage kept her in the
teaching profession where she maintained economic independence, and where her
freedoms of free thinking were not threatened.
After her summer vacation in Tulare ended, Treat returned to teaching at the
Durant School in Oakland. In September, 1890, she told George about taking time off
from her classroom to observe other teachers in schools. This practice of learning
I
I
from colleagues suggests that the school programs provided a more sophisticated
I!
education for teachers than previously. In the 1870s, in Powell's and Burt's days, for
I
example, teachers only attended Normal schools and Teachers' Institutes. Among the
I
I
teachers Treat encountered was one whose class she had attended when she was eightyears old. "She has been elected to take one of the new rooms, but new room hasn't
been accepted by the Board [of Education 1, so teacher has nothing to do. Mr. Dunbar
lets her take each class in succession of teacher visits. I'm rather enjoying it. I
presume my class is too with the substitute. It amused them when I told them that I
46"Sade" to George, N. D., 1890, Yosemite'!
47"Sade" to George, June 19, 1890, Tulare.
74
used to go to school with her. I didn't add however that I annoyed her
considerably.,,48
Treat was considered a good teacher by her principal, Mr. Dunbar. She wrote
that Dunbar was worried about her long relationship with George Child. He asked her
not to marry, fearing that she would leave teaching. She used his comments to support
her position against marriage:
I remarked today how blooming Miss Ward was in consequence of her
coming marriage and he said "Perhaps that is what has made you gain so
much." I answered, "I wish it were. Don't you wish too that I had such
before me?" "No," he said, "I don't want you to marry." So that ought to
settle it. How can I do what Mr. Dunbar doesn't want me to do?"49
In another letter, in April, 1891, Treat told George of a planned school field
trip to Oakland and what she would pay a substitute to take her class for the day. The
field trip was to see President Harrison, who was scheduled to visit the citizens of
Oakland for an hour and a half. "None of us want to attend, but we were supposed to
take our classes Tuesday." Instead of seeing the President, Treat wanted to go sailing
with some friends who invited her to board their yacht and cruise to Monterey. She
wrote, "I am almost tempted to waste $3.50 for a substitute and go. ,,50 She went on
the field trip, however, and saw President Harrison in a parade with her students.
Unfortunately, seeing the President of the United States was "somewhat of a fizzle"
because he apparently "was mad and wouldn't stop."51
A month later, Treat informed George that she was busy at school doing
special projects required by the school Superintendent. Here she expressed resentment
against school authorities when she wrote, "Our stupid Supt. has decided upon an
48"Sade" to George, September 2, 1890, Durant School, Oakland.
49"Sade" to George, April 1, 1891, Oakland.
50"Sade" to George, April 24, 1891, Oakland. Notice that it was the teacher and not the
school district who paid for the substitute.
51"Sade" to George, May 4, 1891, Oakland.
75
exhibit of written work and we are to do lots of it from now on, and then I have to
have 12 maps of Asia and 12 of Africa modeled out of putty.,,52 Treat did not appear
to like being held accountable by school officials to teach state-mandated lessons and
projects.
The more organized educational structure also affected the teachers' salaries
and satisfaction with their work. Treat wrote of one instance of a teacher who was to
take a month's leave and be paid by the Board of Education. Unfortunately, before the
teacher took the leave, she was out sick one day before her allotted time off; so she lost
$5.50, the equivalent of a day's wages.53 By the time the teacher returned, Treat was
looking forward to the end of the school term. She admitted that "I'm only living up to
the letter of the law and doing a minimum of school work. ,,54
When the school term ended in the summer of 1893, so did her teaching
career. Why did Treat leave teaching? Was the bureaucracy of the educational system
as big an impediment to her creativity as primitive conditions were for Powell? With
the combination of general dissatisfaction with teaching and the disagreements she had
with George over a career and marriage, Treat left the United States to travel to
Germany. In earlier letters, Treat mentioned that her mother suggested that she and her
sister, May, travel to Germany where the climate and culture "benefitted [us] mentally
as well as physically. ,,55 Her tour of Europe was to be paid for partly by her family,
which owned a silver mine in Mexico, and partly by George, who seemed to own or
manage a farm. 56 Upper class and upper middle class women were usually treated to
52"Sade" to George, May 11, 1891.
53"Sade" to George, April 18, 1893, Oakland.
5 4"Sade" to George, May 18, 1893, Oakland.
55"Sade" to George, March 30,1891, Oakland.
56The reason George "seemed to own or manage a farm" was because Sarah Treat's letters
only hinted at what George Child did for a living. In a few letters, she mentioned a farm and his duties
of managing the pigs, in addition to a few references that the money he sent her depended on the
prosperity of the farm.
76
such tours in the late nineteenth century to broaden their perspectives. Treat's living
abroad in Europe reversed her role from teacher to student.
In her first letter from Europe, written from Dresden, Germany on
Thanksgiving Day, 1893, she reiterated her position against marriage. Her next letter,
written several months later on February 5, 1894, revealed that she was twenty-nineyears old and had enrolled in a German language course in Zurich.
Treat maintained frequent correspondence with friends and family while
overseas. She received word from a friend and fellow educator, Burk, who wrote that
there were numerous disputes between him and the community regarding teacher
certification. There was a public outcry because twenty-four of twenty-six applicants
failed the examinations given by him and his Board of Education. "No doubt he's
perfectly right in trying to elevate the standard but said applicants and all their relatives
have put on their war paint," Treat reported. "I think all teachers know the difficulties
of trying to introduce reforms in a mass grown school district and particularly such
reforms as Burk would feel he must put through. ,,57 Burk's high standards reflect the
educational reforms that were central to the California school system in the 1890s,
bringing changes to the classroom, and placing higher professional expectations on
teachers.
Treat received other letters from home that reported news about her friends.
She learned of the death of her friend, Ida. The shocking news made Treat feel
homesick and she expressed a desire to return to California and marry George. She
hoped to be married in the Fall and told George, "You haven't once said definitely. I
57"Sade" to George, February 11, 1894, Dresden, Germany.
77
suppose you laugh, and think I ought to take for granted that your years of waiting
need no other explanation. ,,5 8
Why did Treat suddenly change her mind about marrying George? Her April
2, 1894, letter reveals that her stay in Germany ended because of two events: the death
of her friend and her family's financial reverses. Her father's loss of a considerable
source of income from a mine in Mexico meant Treat's stay in Europe was coming to
an end. The bad news from home affected her deeply. She explained to George, "I
must learn to hide my sorrows with a smiling face. Learn to 'drive lightly over
stones', learn to bear and forbear. At least so says the book 'How to be happy though
married' (sic)... I want to go home all the sooner and try the experiment [of
marriage]. ,,59
Perhaps Treat's distance from the United States made her embrace ideas that
were familiar and comforting. In a time of sadness, she gave up her former objections
to marriage and her determination to continue teaching. "I can't and won't go back to
school, unless you say I must, for instance if you need the money for Mr. Batey's
wages. ,,60 By December, 1894, Treat returned to California. She married George
Child in May, 1895.61
Treat's letters through the following years do not indicate if she returned to
teaching, what George did for a living, or when George passed away. Virtually all
school districts refused to hire married teachers, so it is not correct to assume that
returning to the classroom was an option for her. How Sarah Treat Child lived her life
after 1895 is not known, but some letters, written in 1906-1920, gave vague
5 g"Sade" to George, February 26, 1894, Dresden, Germany.
59"Sade" to George, April 2, 1894, Dresden, Germany.
60"Sade" to George, July 27, 1894, Molle, Sweden.
6 1There were no records found indicating this was the actual month, but it was the month
Treat focused on getting married.
78
information of her whereabouts. The Childs lived for a long while in San Francisco at
110 Sutter Street, then later at 1906 Webster Street. George died before 1919, as
indicated in correspondence from Sarah Treat Child to the executor of his estate, Mr.
Meserve. The correspondence does not reveal when Sarah Treat Child passed away,
but it was after 1920, the last year of correspondence in the collection of her personal
papers.
Sarah Treat Child challenged the limitations of her gender through the ideology
of "New Womanhood." She did not want to lose freedoms that she feared would be
taken away by marriage, yet she eventually gave up the debate against marriage and
wanted George Child to provide for her and support her in all endeavors. Although
she eventually married, she manifest many of the characteristics of a "New Woman"
throughout her life: she was independent, for she remained single for a long time; she
openly voiced her opinions to men and women alike; she proclaimed her agnosticism in
a society where religious faith was expected; and she adapted to working with
demanding school officials in a changing, highly structured educational system. Her
straight-forwardness, progressive "New Woman" attitude, combined with her
agnosticism, did not negatively affect her as a teacher: she was praised as a effective
teacher by her principal; she recorded accurate details about activities and lessons in the
classroom; and she empathized with fellow teachers in the issues that they, too, faced
in the school system. As her courtship with George Child progressed, she gave less
attention to details within the classroom and focused more on the debate against
marriage. When Sarah Treat Child eventually left teaching, the teaching profession lost
a conscientious, progressive educator not always comfortable in the increasingly
bureaucratic school system.
79
Sarah Treat Child's personal views were influenced by a society experiencing
rapid growth and change. She taught because she wanted to and not because she had
to do so to support herself. The fight for women's suffrage, advancement in
technology, higher educational levels reached by women, and progressive reforms all
helped women like Sarah Treat Child express their individualism more. However, the
surviving aspects of the powerful ideology of the Cult of True Womanhood did not
allow for "New Women" to stray from the institutions of marriage or religion.
80
Chapter Five
Conclusion
Elizabeth Powell, Clara Burt, and Sarah Treat Child, three women teachers in
the San Francisco Bay Area, taught during a period of regional growth that changed
society and the school system so quickly that none of their living and working
experiences were exactly the same. Powell, Burt, and Child witnessed and participated
in a shift from a frontier environment that needed women to tame its "uncivilized"
society, to a metropolis that had well-established social and educational institutions.
These institutions brought order to a bustling, expanding, and growing population that
became more cosmopolitan with each wave of immigrants.
Throughout the period of 1850-1900, women teachers like Powell, Burt, and
Child played major roles as agents of stability and order. They taught morality, virtue,
discipline, and learning skills that served to maintain traditional values. Each of them
was an evangelizer within the classroom--a preacher of the "gospel" of goodness,
honesty, purity, piety, obedience, and morality to all of her students. The expectation
that women would be motherly and nurturing was created by the prevailing ideology of
True Womanhood and the Ideal of Real Womanhood. 1 Advocates of True
Womanhood and Real Womanhood also expected that women be well-educated so that
they might be compatible partners for their husbands and competent teachers of their
children. Teachers were also expected to be academic guides, hence women needed to
be educated to properly advise their pupils. Therefore, women studied to teach
through ladies' seminaries, Normal schools, and colleges. However, women's
1Frances Cogan describes"Real Womanhood" as an ideal adopted by women to improve
their "position" in life, and the ideology was commonly promoted in popular contemporary literature.
For more information regarding the description of the Ideal of Real Womanhood, see Frances B.
Cogan's All-American Girl: The Ideal of Real Womanhood in Mid-Nineteenth Century America.
(Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1989),4-18.
81
education would not have expanded if it had not been for circumstances that took them
out of the home and into the schools.
The increase in the number of educated women teachers during the nineteenth
century was made possible by several circumstances. First was the post-Revolutionary
idea of "Republican Motherhood," the notion that women were to instruct their sons
and daughters in civic virtue to help preserve the integrity of the republic. To fulfill
this role well, women would have to be well-educated. Then, as the economic
structure of the nation changed with the advent of industrialization in the nineteenth
century, women were encouraged to remain at home in the private sphere as men
pursued business and political matters in the public sphere. Women were permitted to
be educated so that they could fulfill their domestic responsibilities with greater
success. Social pressures encouraged women to be educated but not so much as to
threaten the virtues of the Cult of True Womanhood: piety, purity, submissiveness,
and domesticity.
A renewed interest was brought about in women's education after Catharine
Beecher busily recruited women teachers to work in the West during the 1830s and
1840s. In addition, women became educators when the Civil War and growth in
industry took men out of teaching positions. Eventually teaching became a feminized
profession, thanks particularly to Catharine Beecher, whose ideas about the "civilizing"
role of the teacher appear to have been adopted by the three women in the study. After
more women became educated and enrolled in colleges, universities, and Normal
schools, a shift slowly occurred in ideologies. "New Womanhood," the emergence of
a new perspective on women's role in society, better defined femininity than the "Cult
of True Womanhood" as more women worked outside the home and became more
independent.
82
More specifically, the women who taught in California during the 1850s and
1860s began their jobs in primitive frontier environments that were isolated, had
minimal resources for teachers and their students, and lacked the comforts of home.
Elizabeth Powell taught in crude schoolhouses, "boarded round" with the parents of
her students, and endured loneliness throughout a large part of her teaching career.
Her diary also reveals that she fully embraced the tenets of "True Womanhood"
because piety, purity, passivity, and domesticity were virtues she always strove for.
She read lessons from the Bible to her students when she worked in the isolated
mining town of Pike City; she often prayed to God for patience and strength; and she
constantly wished for her own domestic sphere--eomplete with a home, husband, and
family. Unfortunately, the pursuit of "True Womanhood" did not sustain her.
The new, unstable, frontier environment of the San Francisco Bay area made
Powell acutely aware of her loneliness and lack of a network of friends and family. To
recover from her unhappy situation, Powell concentrated on her teaching career and
continued her prayers to God. Fortunately, her career gave her fulfillment as she rose
through the ranks of the Oakland school district and increased her salary. Her career
was heralded as an inspiration to prospective teachers who shared her emphasis on
teaching students not only to grow mentally, but also spiritually.
By the time Clara Burt began teaching in the I 870s, the state school system
had already become more organized than it was in Powell's day. Would-be teachers
were required to attend normal school and employed "graduate" teachers were required
to attend Teachers' Institutes on a regular schedule. Formalized procedures within the
school system had created a "changed" teaching environment that included state
teaching certificates, male school supervisors dropping in to visit the classroom, and
more established school districts than before. The school laws facilitated expansion of
83
school districts to accommodate the growing population within the state and keep the
standards high. The speed of changes made went so quickly that each teacher, though
they overlapped somewhat in the time-frames they taught, worked in very dissimilar
work environments.
Hence, Clara Burt's experience differed from Powell's in several ways. Her
family was always close by, and their support led her to have a joyful view of life and
"true" womanhood. Trained to be a teacher at the San Jose Normal School, Burt
taught with heavy emphasis on the "3 R's" of education rather than on religion. Burt
had a large number of pupils and was well regarded by parents and supervisors for her
creativity in teaching methods and classroom orderliness. She chose teaching as a
lifelong career because the felt marriage would rob her of her happiness. The
avoidance of marriage was at a new comfort level for women as they began to move
away from the "Cult of True Womanhood." Though she did enjoy courtship, she felt
content to remain single and did not feel marriage made a female a "true" woman.
Burt also enjoyed more freedom than Powell, for Burt did not have to board
with her employers. Instead, she made enough money to co-own a home with her
mother. In addition, her working conditions were less primitive, and she taught in
public schools for most of her career, while Powell remained in private schools or
tutorial positions for the first half of her teaching career.
In the 1880s, when Sarah Treat Child began her career, supervision of public
school teachers had increased. By this time, the curriculum was more centralized and
more secular, funding for all schools was more secure, and men generally occupied the
higher supervisory positions and grade levels. In addition to being a decade marked by
continuing school reform in public education in California, the 1880s was also the
decade that saw the "New Woman" emerge; described as an independent self-reliant,
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well-educated model of womanhood. Child fit the new image exactly. She is a
wonderful exemplar of this more free-spirited, independent, self-directed woman.
Sarah Treat Child was the most independent and intellectual of all three
teachers. She celebrated her uniqueness, for she was agnostic, independent, and
refused to be domestic. She shared working conditions similar to those of Powell and
Burt. She, too, had problems getting paid on time. She lived in boarding houses,
missed loved ones, and dealt with conflicts in courtship and marriage. However,
Child maintained her uniqueness from Powell and Burt when she laughed at devout
Christians, refused marriage for six years, used her sharp pen to convey displeasure
with her mate and give her point of view, and traveled to Germany to expand her world
view and experiences.
Child's independence was also apparent in the classroom. She posed as a
church-goer to avoid repercussions from the community she lived and taught in, but
she quickly gave up the facade of being religious. She tried to instill morality in
students who were unfamiliar with God or Bible stories. She complained about
indolent school authorities, and was constantly engaged with exams, tardy notes, and
report cards. In short, Child worked in the most bureaucratic teaching environment of
the three teachers here as the public school system became more institutionalized. This
may have been a factor in her decision to marry George Child in 1895.
These women's diaries and letters enable us to see how closely linked they
were to the society of their time in the San Francisco Bay area during the late nineteenth
century. Powell, Burt, and Child offer an opportunity to see the relationship between
contemporary expectations for women and real women. Each woman performed her
teaching duties to the best of her abilities, no matter what the working conditions-whether those conditions were crude or advanced. Each woman also acted within the
85
constraints that social ideology set. Each accepted the "duties" of womanhood and was
responsive to society's changes in the feminine ideal. Thus, their diaries not only
convey what life was like in the classroom, but they also give a glimpse of what life
was like for women and the expectations placed upon them. These primary sources are
especially important for what they reveal from the women's own perspective and
adding to the rich history uncovered through the eyes of women.
86
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Primary Sources:
Manuscript!:!:
The Clara Burt Journal, 1875-1896 (951:6). The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
The Sarah Treat Child Collection, 1885-1920 (73/162c). The Bancroft Library,
University of Calfornia, Berkeley.
The Elizabeth Powell Papers, 1854-1916 (Banc MSS 82/55c). The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
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