School Days for Margaret Teresa Gleeson

Many of the women on my father’s side were teachers. This was a common occupation for women, especially those who never married. This was the case for Margaret Teresa Gleeson, my great-grandaunt.

Margaret, the daughter of John Gleeson and Margaret Tierney, was born on 28 July 1873 in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada and baptized on 24 August 1873 at St. Philip’s Church in Richmond.[1] She was their ninth child and fifth daughter. She would have one younger brother.

Childhood
When she was six years old, her family moved to the United States, settling in Mitchell, Davison County, Dakota Territory. The youngest three children were not listed as attending school in 1880.[2]

She attended Mitchell High School. On one program held at the school in October 1889, Margaret gave a recitation titled “A Slave’s Heroism.”[3] In the next month, she recited “Spinning.”[4] During Arbor Day in May 1890, gave an essay on grasses, “showing that many plants not generally known as grasses really belonged to that family.”[5] She gave another recitation for the Excelsior group called “I’ll Give You a Chance,” in March 1891.[6]

She graduated from high school in June 1892. She was part of a class of six girls.[7] For a photo of her class, see this post. She attended the party given by the Alumni Society of the High School and was elected as Secretary for the following year.[8]

Adulthood
She was recorded in the newspaper as teaching school in Anaconda, Montana, where her sister, Helena was teaching.[9] She may have taught only a year or two, as in June 1895, she graduated from Madison Normal School.[10] Today, this school is Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. As a normal school, it was the first school to train teachers in the Dakota Territory.[11]

In her career as a teacher, she taught school in Anaconda, Montana; Mitchell, South Dakota; and Portland, Oregon. After her parents moved to Portland, Oregon in the early 1900s, she followed. She taught many years at Shaver School.[12] There is still a school in Portland by this name The original school was at the corner of Morris and Mississippi.[13]

I couldn’t locate a photograph of the school or much about its history online, but I found a 1909 Sanborn map showing its location and footprint.[14]

Today the site is under Interstate 5 and the many on and off ramps to it. If you extend Morris west, it would intersect Mississippi under the freeway.[15]

Directories and census records only state that she is a teacher but not which grade. I found several annual reports that help document her teaching with the Portland schools. She began teaching with the district in 1906 at Shaver School for second grade.[16]  In the school year 1909-10, she taught third grade at Shaver. She had been a teacher for the district for four years but had taught for ten years.[17] In the school year ending in 1918, she was teaching second grade at Shaver.[18] She was also a member of the State Teachers’ Association in 1919.[19]

Finally, in her later years, she taught at Hosford School.[20] This school was located at Kenilworth Avenue at East Sherman.[21] Today, there is a Hosford Middle School.

I am disappointed that I found no old photos of either school online. I would next contact historical societies in the area to see if any photos are available for the schools. Perhaps they have some other school records as well.

Retirement
I have no idea when Margaret stopped teaching. By 1940, she was spending time between Portland and Los Angeles, where her sister Helena lived.[22] She died on 1 December 1941.[23] Her sister, Helena, was with her when she died.[24]

#52Ancestors-Week 15: School Days

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.

I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

---

All sources were viewed on 7 April 2024.

[1] Richmond, Carleton Co, Ontario, St. Philip Catholic Church, parish records, vol. 3, 1868-1903, 1873, B20, Margarett Teresa Gleeson; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YWH-3C9).

[2] 1880 U.S. census, Davison Co, Dakota Territory, Mitchell, ED 35, p 13, 474 (stamped), dwelling 109, family 112, John Gleeson; NARA T9, roll 112.

[3] “The Excelsiors,” Mitchell Capital 24 Oct 1889, p. 4, col. 5.

[4] “Program,” Mitchell Capital, 22 Nov 1889, p. 4, col. 5.

[5] “Arbor Day,” Mitchell Capital, 2 May 1890, p. 4, col. 2.

[6] “Entertainments at Hand,” Mitchell Capital, 13 Mar 1891, p. 7, col. 6.

[7] “The Class of ’92,” Mitchell Daily Republican, 11 June 1892, p. 4, col. 4.

[8] “The Class of ’92 Banquetted,” Mitchell Capital, 17 Jun 1892, p. 8, col. 3.

[9] "Anaconda News," The Anaconda Standard, 11 September 1893, p 2.

[10] “Minor Mentions,” Mitchell Capital, 14 June 1895, p. 5, col. 2.

[11] “Dakota State University,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_State_University).

[12] Multiple Portland city directories document this. See for example: "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469), > Oregon > Portland > 1908 > Portland, Oregon Directory, 1908 > image 596 of 1610, p. 574, Margaret T Gleeson.

[13] Portland City Directory 1907-8 (Portland, Ore: R.L. Polk & Co, 1907), 1154, Shaver School, imaged, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469), > Oregon > Portland > 1908 > Portland, Oregon Directory, 1908 > image 1188 of 1610.

[14] Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, (Sanborn Map Company, 1909), vol. 3, p. 266, imaged, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4294pm.g4294pm_g07439190903/), image 67 of 119.

[15] Google Map, search Portland, then browsed to the east side of Willamette River and east of the railroad yard.

[16] Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Public Schools of the City of Portland, Oregon For the Year Ending June 21, 1907 (Portland, Ore: By order of the Board of Directors, 1907),

[17] The Thirty-seventh Annual Report of the Public Schools of Portland, Oregon, for the year ending Tuesday, June 21, 1910 (Portland, Ore: By order of the Board of Directors, 1910), 46; HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.098192192&seq=15).

[18] The Forty-Fifth Annual Report of School District No. 1 Multnomah County, Oregon including the City of Portland, Oregon. . . June 30, 1918 (Portland, Ore: By order of the Board of Directors, 1918), 82; HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015076535361&seq=5).

[19] “1918 Membership Roll, to May 1, 1919,” The Oregon State Teachers’ Association Quarterly, March 1919, p. 64, Shaver School, Margaret T. Gleeson.

[20] Polk’s Portland City Directory, 1928 (Portland, Ore.: R.L. Polk & Co, 1928), p. 677, Margt Gleeson.

[21] Polk’s Portland City Directory, 1928 (Portland, Ore.: R.L. Polk & Co, 1928), p. 813, Hosford School.

[22] 1940 US census, Los Angeles Co, California, Los Angeles, AD 55, ED 60-946, p. 6317 (stamped), household 94, Helena Gleeson.

[23] "Oregon, U.S., State Deaths, 1864-1971," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61675/) > Multnomah-Umtila > 1941 > image 1241 of 2005, no. 3755, Margaret T. Gleeson, Multnomah Co.

[24] “Margaret Gleeson Dies in Portland,” Butte (Montana) Daily Post, 3 Dec 1941, p. 14, col. 1.

Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.