Madison, South Dakota, was sixty-seven miles from Mitchell, South Dakota, if traveling on main roads, and about the same if traveling diagonally across smaller roads between farm fields to Madison. That’s how far Margaret would have traveled to attend normal school in Madison, a town in Lake County.
The Dakota Normal School was founded in 1881 and was the first to train teachers in Dakota Territory.[1] Margaret’s older sisters, Helena and Elizabeth, were also teachers, but no documentation has been discovered for their teacher training.
Margaret graduated from the school on 12 June 1895 along with another Mitchell girl, Viola I. Mills.[2] According to a publication published in 1890, the institution was “a four-story structure, 76 x 84 feet.
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| West Hall |
The course of study consists of four divisions, namely: elementary, requiring three years to complete; advanced, which runs with the elementary and requires four years; commercial, of one year; and professional for those who, having taken courses in other institutes, wish to fit themselves for teachers.” Margaret likely took the three-year course. The expenses for boarding at the dormitory was from $2.25 to $2.50 weekly.[3] Tuition was $1.50 per half term for in-state residents.[4]
Another publication gave the list of studies in 1892.[4] The year before Margaret graduated, there were 209 students in the normal course.[5]
The Twelfth Annual Catalog of the State Normal School, 1894-95, listed Margaret F. Gleeson of Mitchell, who graduated from Mitchell High School. She was taking the professional course.[6]
The graduating class wrote theses, and Margaret’s was titled “The Child and Investigator.”[7] The class consisted of 22 young ladies and gentlemen. The Reverend J. P. Jenkins gave the sermon at the exercises held in the opera house.[9]
Margaret went on to teach school in Anaconda, Montana, where her sisters lived.[10] Later, she moved to Portland to be near her parents. She taught at Shaver School.[11]
Margaret never married and died on 1 December 1941 at the age of 68.[12]
Afterword
Dakota Normal School became Madison State Normal School in 1902. In 1921, it became Eastern State Normal School and changed to Eastern State Teachers College in 1927. In 1947, it was called General Beadle State Teachers College, after the school’s third president, William Henry Harrison Beadle (w889-1905), who would have been president while Margaret attended. In 1964, it was known as General Beadle State College. In 1969, the college became Dakota State College, and in 1989, it became Dakota State University with the addition of graduate programs. [13]
I needed to pay attention to the name changes when searching for information. I found that the Dakota State University archives are located at Karl Mundt Library at DSU. [14] I will contact them to see what materials they have from the time she attended the college.
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1. “Dakota State University,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_State_University).
2. “Minor Mention,” The Mitchell Capital, 14 June 1895, p. 5, col. 2.
3. Commissioner of Immigration, Facts About South Dakota: An Official Encyclopedia, (Aberdeen: Aberdeen News Company, 1890), p. 55, “Madison Normal School,” imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/1890factsaboutso00sout/page/n60/mode/1up). For the photo, see Digital Library of South Dakota, DSU – University Archives, (https://explore.digitalsd.org/digital/collection/university/id/4/rec/12), Dakota Normal School, West Hall, image dsu-ph-00005.
4. The Twelfth Annual Catalog of the State Normal School, 1894-95, Dakota Normal School, p. 24.
5. George Martin Smith, ed., South Dakota: Its History and Its People (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1915), p. 824, imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofdakotat03king/page/824/mode/2up).
6. ibid., p. 832.
7. The Twelfth Annual Catalog of the State Normal School, 1894-95, Dakota Normal School, p. 7.
8. “Commencements,” The Madison Daily Leader, 7 June 1895, p. 3, col. 3, under the heading “Normal School.”
9. “Baccalaureate Sermon,” The Madison Daily Leader, 6 June 1895, p. 3, col. 3.
10. 1900 U.S. census, Deer Lodge County, Montana, pop. sched., ED 16, Sht 5, line 46, Margaret Gleeson.
11. "Board Announces Teachers' Names," Oregonian (Portland), 12 June 1908.
12. "Deaths," Oregonian (Portland), 4 December 1941, p. 19, death notice, Margaret T. Gleeson.
13. “Dakota State University,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_State_University).
14. “DSU Archives,” Dakota State Karl Mundt Library (https://library.dsu.edu/archive).
#52Ancestors-Week 18: Institution
This is my eighth 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 (https://mam-massouthernfamily.blogspot.com/) or My Trails into the Past (https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/). I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
With luck, the archives will still have her thesis! But I suspect those papers are long gone, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteLove that you're deep diving into your relative's lives! Definitely makes for a more interesting family history! :) I'm embarrassed to say that I actually had to look up pedagogy. ;)
ReplyDeleteDon't be embarrassed. Genealogy has a lot of techy words, too.
DeleteIf Margaret was graduated from the Professional Course in 1895, that suggests that she had taken courses elsewhere, according to the description you provided at the beginning of the four courses offered by the school. Were there any other nearby normal schools, or was this the only one even vaguely in the area (entirely reasonable if so, considering that there couldn't have been much of a population to serve)?
ReplyDeleteYes, it does. She graduated from high school in 1892. In September 1893, she was hired as a teacher in the Anaconda, Montana, school district. She may have received credit for already teaching.
DeleteThat was a very comprehensive curriculum. I enjoyed your post.
ReplyDelete