The Teaching Life of Anna M. Sullivan in Montana 1914-1922

My paternal grandmother, Anna Marie Sullivan, was a school teacher. She was born 15 Oct 1892 in Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, Montana, to John H. Sullivan and Anna M. Gleeson.[1] She died 14 Feb 1979 in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California.[2] In that lifespan, she probably taught school for about 28 years. This post will be about what newspaper articles have helped me piece together her teaching career in Montana.

Education
Anna grew up in Anaconda, attending school there. She graduated from high school in June 1911.[3] Following high school, she attended Montana Normal School in Dillon, Beaverhead County, Montana, graduating in June 1914.[4] Two sources helped me put together her life at the normal school: the 1913-14 school catalog and the 1913-14 yearbook.

The school catalog listed Anna M. Sullivan of Anaconda as a member of the 1913-14 class.[5] Besides listing the students who attended that year, there is a list of the faculty, the course requirements, and photos of buildings and classrooms. They did their practice with a Dillon public school.

The 1914 yearbook listed Anna in several places. She was the Assistant Wit and Humor Editor on the yearbook staff.[6]  

She played basketball as a forward.[7] 

She was on the tennis and skating club.[8]

Other activities included being a member of the Glee Club,[9] and the Kappa Zeta Nu sorority.[10]

Her senior class photo has a quote besides it: “I love all the world.”[11]

Other activities came from newspapers in Anaconda. She was elected as field captain of her class in January 1914. She was to drill the seniors in competition with the other classes for the annual field meet.[12] In May 1914, she led the senior class in a hoop drill during the annual field meet.[13] The senior class won the loving cup and Anna won the gold medal for the best leadership. Commencement was held on June 4 in the auditorium.[14]

Teaching
Trying to sort through the articles in newspapers in Hamilton and Anaconda was not easy. Anna Sullivan is a common name, and I am never quite sure if I have the right person. It took collecting many of the articles and correlating them together. Sometimes, Anna would be mentioned with her sister, Ethel, and that was helpful. Below are articles that helped piece together her teaching career in Montana. She taught at schools in Anaconda, and in Corvallis and Hamilton in Ravalli County between 1914 and 1922. She married in 1922.

Here is a modern map of the area where she lived. Corvallis is just north of Hamilton in Ravalli County. To travel to Hamilton on a road meant going over a mountain range.

If traveling by train, the connections would have been in Butte, to Missoula, and then a train to Hamilton, likely on the Northern Pacific Railroad. Later, articles mentioned motoring, so she may have gotten rides between the towns.

A portion of a Rand-McNally map. https://artsourceinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RM-1928-MONTANA-RAIL.jpg

Following graduation, she began teaching in Corvallis in Ravalli County. She had a second-grade class of thirty-one students.[15] In November, she attended a teacher institute in Butte, and then spent Thanksgiving at home in Anaconda.[16]

In December 1914, she was a guest of her uncle, M. P. Gleeson of Missoula, during Christmas holidays. She was named as a teacher in Corvallis.[17]

In May 1915, she left for Missoula to spend a few days and then traveled to Dillon for the state normal college commencement week. Following that, she visited her father in Anaconda. Again, she was listed as the second-grade teacher in Corvallis.[18]

In the time between 1915 and 1922, there were many articles of Anna visiting the M. L. Chaffin family and their daughters, Lorene and Alice, and taking trips with them. I could not find a connection between the families and wasn’t sure this Anna was my Anna until Anna visited with her sister, Ethel. When Lorene married in 1916, Anna was mentioned as an intimate friend.[19] I thought perhaps they attended school together but there are no Chaffins listed in her yearbook. There are many articles about Lorene Chaffin entertaining and she may have just become good friends with Anna.

In September 1916, Anna was engaged in teaching in Anaconda.[20] She may have taught at Beaver Dam School for the intermediate grades.[21]

In September 1917, she was assigned to Prescott School in Anaconda, teaching the mixed grades. Her aunt, Helen Gleeson taught first grade at the same school.[22] The 1918 Anaconda directory listed Anna Sullivan at Beaver Dam School.[23] I’m beginning to think there were two Anna Sullivans, one at Prescott School and the other at Beaver Dam.

In May 1919, Anna M. Sullivan was one of the many teachers listed for the upcoming school year in Anaconda.[24] That summer she attended the state college in Missoula.[25]

In 1920, she was teaching third grade in Anaconda.[26] However, in January 1921, she had resigned from the Anaconda school to take a position in Corvallis.[27] She was assigned again in the fall of 1921.[28] She taught at Washington School.[29]

The last article about her teaching in Montana was in April 1922, where she was hired for the next year in Hamilton.[30] That Thanksgiving she married William Cyril Hork on 30 November 1922.[31] By January of 1923, Cyril and Anna were on their way to California.[32]

Summary
Anna attended normal school to become a teacher and she taught in grammar schools in Anaconda, Corvallis, and Hamilton. Even when she lived in Anaconda, she visited Hamilton often to see the Chaffin family. Perhaps that is how she met Cyril. Or maybe she met him while teaching in Hamilton. She could have attended the baseball games when he played. No newspaper articles were found where they were both named. They did not seem to have met at any of the Chaffin parties, either. This is a mystery that may never be solved. I never asked my dad or his sisters.

Although I have no proof, she may have lost her job when she married Cyril. Or he had the itch to head to California and that is why she quit. He had been stationed in Long Beach and San Diego during the First World War. I imagine the pleasant climate and bustling city enticed him to move.

She would later return to teaching in the 1940s and that is a story for another time.

This is a post for 12 for 2026, this month working on writing about the Sullivan family.

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[1] “About the City,” The Anaconda Standard, 18 Oct 1892, p. 3, col. 1. For parents’ names, State of California, certificate of death, no. 4300-01092, Anne M. Hork, 1979.

[2] State of California, certificate of death, no. 4300-01092, Anne M. Hork, 1979.

[3] “Anaconda Students are Given Diplomas,” The Anaconda Standard, 10 Jun 1911, p. 5.

[4] “Class of 1914, State Normal School,” The Anaconda Standard, 31 May 1914, p. 5.

[5] Catalogue of the Montana State Normal College 1913-1914 (Normal College, 1914), 67; imaged, HathiTrust (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuo.ark:/13960/t58d1gm5f&seq=5 : accessed 6 Jun 2021).

[6] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), ; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[7] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), 83; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[8] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), 89; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[9] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), 94; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[10] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), 108-11; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[11] Senior Class of 1914, The Chinook (Montana State Normal College, 1914), 34; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/chinook00unse_1/page/n5/mode/2up : accessed 23 Oct 2026).

[12] “Butte and Anaconda Girls Honored by Classmates,” The Anaconda Standard, 8 Jan 1914, p. 12.

[13] “In Play Festival on Normal Campus,” The Anaconda Standard, 23 May 1914, p. 4.

[14] “Class of 1914, State Normal School,” The Anaconda Standard, 31 May 1914, p. 5.

[15] “The Corvallis Schools Open with 318 Pupils,” The Western News, 11 Sep 1914, p. 1, col. 4.

[16] The Ravalli Republican, 4 Dec 1914, p. 5, col. 3.

[17] The Daily Missoulian, 26 Dec 1914, p. 3. Also, “Corvallis,” The Daily Missoulian, 26 Dec 1914, p. 3, col. 3.

[18] The Ravalli Republican, 28 May 1915, p. 5, col. 4. Also, The Daily Missoulian, 25 Dec 1914, p. 2, col. 5.

[19] “Ceremony Occurred at Bride’s Parents on Decoration Day in Presence of Relatives,” The Ravalli Republican, 2 June 1916, p. 5, col. 3.

[20] The Ravalli Republican, 1 Sep 1916, p. 5, col. 2.

[21] Anaconda City Directory 1917 (R.L. Polk, 1917), p. 298. Also, “Grade Schools Will Open Monday at Nine,” The Anaconda Standard, 10 Sep 1916, p. 4, col. 1.

[22] “The Grade Teachers Appointed for Term,” The Anaconda Standard, 3 Sep 1917, p. 2.

[23] Anaconda City Directory 1918 (R.L. Polk, 1918), p. 311.

[24] “School Board Names City Teaching Staff,” The Anaconda Standard, 7 May 1919, p. 9.

[25] The Ravalli Republican, 4 July 1919, p. 5, col. 4.

[26] The Ravalli Republican, 10 Sep 1920, p. 5, col. 2.

[27] The Ravalli Republican, 21 Jan 1921, p. 5, col. 3. See also, The Ravalli Republican, 8 Apr 1921, p. 4. And, The Ravalli Republican, 10 June 1921, p. 5, col. 3.

[28] The Ravalli Republican, 26 Aug 1921, p. 5, col. 2.

[29] “City Schools Will Have Three Routes,” The Ravalli Republican, 2 Sep 1921, p. 1, col. 1.

[30] “Studies Dropped by the Schools of City,” The Ravalli Republican, 21 Apr 1922, p. 1, col. 5.

[31] Silver Bow County, marriage license and certificate, A-14551, William C. Hork & Anna M. Sullivan, 30 Nov 1922; Butte.

[32] The Ravalli Republican, 26 Jan 1923, p. 4.

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