We’ve all heard about the 3 R’s – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic but the 4th R is for Romance! Now, you can hear some fun romance stories of the early rural school teachers.
These tenacious women took on the duties of educating kids in a time when the job of a teacher went far beyond simply ensuring kids knew the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were given all age kids, from around the designated areas in a time that often required them to board with area families, arrive at school early to start the fire, or even prepare a warm meal for students. They were in charge of everything from social gatherings, to school performances, to walking students home. The teachers came from across the United States with the lure of up to $100 per month salary compared to an average $75 they were getting in some eastern states. Communities would get together, decide they needed a teacher and send for one, and young women would pack up everything for what sometimes was an extremely long trip via train and covered wagon to their remote destinations in our county. What they perhaps knew was that they would be a great attraction to the single men in the area and the courting stories are as much a part of the history as the journey itself.
Take for instance the story of the start of the Rangely School in 1888. With the lure of land and, young men and families settled the area. C.P. Hill had his surrounding neighbors decided they needed a school for their children, and that, of course, would require a teacher. Caroline Blakeslee’s journey west from Massachusetts began in 1887, but time left her in Iowa working as a dressmaker that year. When she saw an ad for a position in Meeker, she and her cousin headed west via train to Glenwood. They traveled by stagecoach to Grand Junction before taking the freight wagon owned and operated by Mr. Hill to Rangely. The school was under construction when she began teaching and she filed a claim on the land. She had to prove up the land and when doing that needed a ride to Meeker to fill out the final paperwork. There is a story on the trip that clearly involves the courtship.
These tenacious women took on the duties of educating kids in a time when the job of a teacher went far beyond simply ensuring kids knew the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were given all age kids, from around the designated areas in a time that often required them to board with area families, arrive at school early to start the fire, or even prepare a warm meal for students. They were in charge of everything from social gatherings, to school performances, to walking students home. The teachers came from across the United States with the lure of up to $100 per month salary compared to an average $75 they were getting in some eastern states. Communities would get together, decide they needed a teacher and send for one, and young women would pack up everything for what sometimes was an extremely long trip via train and covered wagon to their remote destinations in our county. What they perhaps knew was that they would be a great attraction to the single men in the area and the courting stories are as much a part of the history as the journey itself.
Take for instance the story of the start of the Rangely School in 1888. With the lure of land and, young men and families settled the area. C.P. Hill had his surrounding neighbors decided they needed a school for their children, and that, of course, would require a teacher. Caroline Blakeslee’s journey west from Massachusetts began in 1887, but time left her in Iowa working as a dressmaker that year. When she saw an ad for a position in Meeker, she and her cousin headed west via train to Glenwood. They traveled by stagecoach to Grand Junction before taking the freight wagon owned and operated by Mr. Hill to Rangely. The school was under construction when she began teaching and she filed a claim on the land. She had to prove up the land and when doing that needed a ride to Meeker to fill out the final paperwork. There is a story on the trip that clearly involves the courtship.
The next story is of a Lime Kiln teacher, Eleanor Kugler, who grew up in Missouri and attended a teacher’s college there. When she and a fellow teacher heard of the money to be made and the idea of teaching only ten to twelve students as opposed to their present class size of thirty-eight, they ventured west to Colorado looking for job opportunities. Eleanor took a job in Routt County at the Dunston School on Williams Fork. She was prepared to go back to Missouri when she completed her term but heard of a school starting in the summer on Lime Kiln. She took the job in May of 1928, and the schoolhouse was on land donated by Jack Service. She was an attraction for men in the area, and so another romance story begins. This story took Ella away from Lime Kiln for a couple of years but the hard times the country was facing brought her back to the area and she continued teaching in 1933.
Yet another story does not include a romance that evolved from the teaching position but rather the position enabled Sally Sheridan the ability to work while she waited. She taught in the Coal Creek School. Sally, of course, grew up in Meeker on the Bar Seven Ranch, not far from the school. She attended Denver University before coming back to teach. It was a time when men were leaving for war and she was pestered in her horseback journey to and from school by her brother Jim Sheridan, who would hide and jump out to scare the horse she was on. She endured the spooking of her horse along with the wait of her high school sweetheart as he went off to war.
Yet another story does not include a romance that evolved from the teaching position but rather the position enabled Sally Sheridan the ability to work while she waited. She taught in the Coal Creek School. Sally, of course, grew up in Meeker on the Bar Seven Ranch, not far from the school. She attended Denver University before coming back to teach. It was a time when men were leaving for war and she was pestered in her horseback journey to and from school by her brother Jim Sheridan, who would hide and jump out to scare the horse she was on. She endured the spooking of her horse along with the wait of her high school sweetheart as he went off to war.
