The 1912 Portland City Directory’s entry for Ethel Elizabeth Sullivan stated she was a student at B-W Business College.[1] Her address was 410 Ross which was the address of her grandparents, John and Margaret Gleeson.[2] Ethel is the sister of my paternal grandmother Anna Marie Sullivan.
What was B-W Business College? The business section of the directory listing under colleges and schools at the back of the book listed Behnke-Walker Business College, located at 167 4th Street.[3] On another page was a full-page advertisement for the school.[4]
According to the ad, the college had “the most commodious, best-lighted and perfectly ventilated quarters. It had the largest and most complete equipment, with the greatest number of expert instructors and the most thorough and modern methods.”
Behnke-Walker Business College
A browser search brought up some more information about the
college. The college was established in 1902. The training was for jobs in
bookkeeping and shorthand, and as working as shipping clerks and paying
tellers. The school taught Pernin shorthand and had adding machines and
typewriters in their classrooms.[5]
A newspaper article described the courses of studies: a short course of 6-12
months led to careers as a bookkeeper, shipping clerk, and paying teller, and a
course of 12-20 months prepared for positions where more knowledge was needed.
There was also a special course in shorthand and a short course in English.[6]
 |
| Typing Class in 1910 |
It is not known which course Ethel took, but she appeared in Portland city directories for two years which might give a clue to the length of her course. However, the 1913 entry did not state her occupation, while the 1912 entry stated she was a student. Did she finish a course? Did she ever work in the business field?
Occupation
In 1920, she was living with her sister, Loretto Patterson
and her husband, James Patterson, and another sister, Anna Sullivan. Anna was a
teacher and Ethel was listed as a stenographer.[7]
It is possible that she worked at the Anaconda Copper Mine Company in the Brick
Department as a clerk in 1925.[8]
That was also the same year she married J.V. Quigley in Burlingame, California,
though they married late in the year on 20 October 1925.[9]
Like many young women, they worked until they married. Jobs often included office work, sales work in a department store, teaching, telephone operator, or domestic jobs such as a maid, laundress, or cook. Very few of the women in my grandmother’s generation worked after marrying unless they suddenly became widowed.
#52Ancestors-Week 20: Taking Care of Business
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.
[1] Polk’s
Portland City Directory (Portland, Ore: R.L. Polk & Co, 1912), 1432,
Ethel E. Sullivan.
[2] Ibid,
611, John Gleeson.
[3]
Ibid, 1747, Behnke-Walker Business College.
[4] Ibid,
1643, Behnke-Walker Business College advertisement.
[5] “Behnke-Walker
Business College,” Everybody Wiki (https://en.everybodywiki.com/Behnke-Walker_Business_College).
[6] “Business
College Grows: Behnke-Walker School Opens Fall Term in New Home,” Morning
Oregonian, 28 Jul 1912, p. 4.
[7] 1920
U.S. census, Deer Lodge Co, Montana, Anaconda ward 1, ED 23, sht 7a, fam 163,
James Patterson household.
[8] Anaconda
City Directory (Butte, Mont.: RL Polk & Co, 1925), p. 208, Ethel
Sullivan.
[9] “Marriage
is Celebrated,” The (San Mateo) Times, 21 Oct 1925, p. 3, col. 5.
I love city directories as they include so much more than just a name and address. Occupations and even dates of death.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I never stop at the name entry.
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