Eliza Mott: The Pioneer Teacher Who Set Up A School in Her Kitchen

One of the most celebrated pioneer teachers in Nevada history was Eliza Mott. She is credited with establishing the first school in Carson Valley, Nevada.

In 1852, this enterprising pioneer wife and mother set up her school in her farmhouse kitchen. Her students sat on bare logs around a crude, wooden table. Armed with a couple of McGuffey Readers, a speller, and an arithmetic book, Eliza welcomed into her school boys and girls dressed in plaid shirts or gingham dresses and home-knit stockings. Some were barefoot and some were wearing rough shoes with hard leather soles. The class ranged in age from five to eleven years in age. Some of the pupils were her own children, and some were her nieces and nephews.

Eliza was born on January 13, 1829, in Toronto, Canada. Her family immigrated to Lee County, Iowa, in 1842, and it was there that the young Eliza developed her skills as a teacher. She excelled at academic subjects and vowed to make great strides in the field of education. At the age of 22, she met and fell in love with Israel Mott, and on April 10, 1850, the pair were married.

As soon as they were married, Israel and Eliza decided to go West . They set out in a Conestoga wagon pulled by two sturdy oxen. In early 1851 they landed in Salt Lake City, where they joined a Mormon wagon train and headed for California, one of a party of thirty families led by the famous Kit Carson. When the caravan stopped to rest at Mormon Station in northern Nevada in July, 1851, Israel decided he like the area so much he wanted to stay there. The couple homesteaded a 2100-acre section of land along the Carson River route, and on this homestead Eliza established her school.

As more pioneer travelers established their farms in the area, the name of Mottsville was given to the settlement. It quickly became apparent that a school was needed. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Eliza still had to run the farm. On an average day, the young pioneer woman would rise before dawn to care for her children, milk the cows, cook breakfast for her family and hired hands, prepare lunches for her students, and then complete her lesson plans. By fall, 1855, the Mottsville School had officially outgrown Eliza's kitchen, and by the next year a schoolhouse was built in town. A schoolmaster was hired from the East, and Eliza resigned as the teacher to care for her family full-time.

This chalkboard champion will always be remembered fondly as the founder of the first school in Carson Valley, Nevada. You can read more about Eliza Mott and other pioneer teachers in Frontier Teachers: Stories of Heroic Women of the Old West by Chris Enss.

John Mason Clarke: Geologist, Palentologist, and Chalkboard Champion

Many chalkboard champions have distinguished themselves in fields other than education. Such is the case with John Mason Clarke, a secondary school teacher who also distinguished himself as a geologist and paleontologist.

John Mason Clarke was born on April 15, 1857, in Canandaigua, New York, the fifth of six children in the family of Noah Turner Clarke and Laura Mason Merrill. As a young boy, he attended Canandaigua Academy where his father was a teacher and principal. After his graduation in 1873, John enrolled in Amherst College where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1877. Following his college graduation, he returned to Canandaigua Academy to serve as an instructor. In 1879–1880, John worked as an assistant to Benjamin K. Emerson at Amherst, then he taught at the Utica Free Academy during the 1880–1881 school year. This was followed by work as an instructor at Smith College from 1881–1882, where he had been offered the position of professor. During his second year at Smith, John published his first three scientific papers, all treating the subject of arthropods.

In 1883, John traveled to Gottingen University for a brief period, and when he returned to the United States he resumed his teaching career at Massachusetts Agricultural College. Meanwhile, he continued his study of the Upper Devonian,  which he hoped to use for his dissertation. In January, 1886 he became an assistant to James Hall at the New York State Museum of Natural History in Albany, New York. He maintained an association with the museum for the remainder of his career.

In 1894 John was named a professor of geology and mineralogy at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Following the death of James Hall in 1898, this talented educator was named New York state paleontologist and was put in charge of a geological survey of New York. In 1904 he became the state geologist and paleontologist, the director of the state museum, and director of the science division of the education department. He was named the first president of the Paleontological Society in 1908, served as vice president of the Geological Society of America in 1909, and was elected president of that organization in 1916.

John M. Clarke passed away on May 29, 1925, in Albany at the age of 68. During his lengthy career he published 452 titles, of which approximately 300 treatedsubjects relted to geology or paleontology. Three genera and 42 species were named after him. He was awarded six honorary degrees and received offers from four universities to chair their departments of geology.

Chalkboard Champion and Revolutionary War Hero Timothy Bloodworth

Chalkboard champions have been as much a part of American life as any other hero since the very beginnings of our country's history. One such historical figure was North Carolina educator, patriot, and statesman Timothy Bloodworth.

Timothy was born in New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1736. He was named after his father, who had migrated to North Carolina from Virginia in the early 1700's. As a young man, Timothy had little formal education, but he pursued a variety of careers.  Although  he spent most of his adulthood before the Revolutionary War as a teacher, he also farmed, kept a tavern, operated a ferry, practiced medicine, and preached occasionally. He also worked as a wheelwright and watchmaker, but he was probably best known as a blacksmith.

The talented educator eventually emerged as a leader in the movement for independence from Great Britain. When war broke out in 1776, Timothy began making weapons such as muskets and bayonets for the Continental Army. According to legend, he even saw combat as a sniper in fighting around Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1778 and 1779, he served as a member of the state legislature for North Carolina.

After the war ended, he held a number of political posts until serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786. Timothy was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First United States Congress, a position he held from 1790 to 1791. After his tenure in the House ended, he returned to the North Carolina State Legislature. In 1794, Timothy was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1795 to 1801. From then until 1807, this chalkboard champion served as collector of customs in Wilmington.

Timothy Bloodworth passed away on August 24, 1814. During World War II, the liberty ship SS Timothy Bloodworth was named in his honor.

Chalkboard Champion Edward Diller

Many chalkboard champions have achieved accomplishments that have earned them international attention. One such educator was Edward Diller, an author and  professor of Germanic languages and literature at the University of Oregon.

Edward was born on December 15, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of the six children of Isaac and Frieda Diller. The Dillers had immigrated to the United States in 1910 from Austria Hungary. Isaac worked in a hat factory, as did his two oldest children, Louis and Max.

During World War II, Edward served his country in the Marine Corps. When the war was over, he earned his bachelor's degree in 1953 from UCLA, his master's degree in 1954 from Cal State Los Angeles, and his doctorate in 1961 from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Edward began his teaching career when he accepted a position to teach German at Beverly Hills High School during the 1950's. During the 1960's he served as the foreign language coordinator of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. He joined the faculty of Colorado College before transferring to the University of Oregon in 1965. There he served as the director of the University of Oregon's Robert D. Clark Honors College from 1972 to 1977 and the assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 1974 to 1977. While a professor at Oregon, Edward won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation for projects in film studies and for attempts to open lines of communication, especially about the humanities, between Oregon Indian tribes and white residents. Shortly before his death, he and an Oregon colleague were awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to fund summer seminars for high school teachers at the Eugene campus.

Edward was also distinguised as a resident director of the Oregon Study Center in Stuttgart, West Germany, for the 1980-1981 academic year, was elected president of the American Association of Teachers of German from 1978–1980, served on the Executive Board of the Joint National Committee for Languages from 1979–1980, and became the chairman of the Selection Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany and the US Office of Education Grants in 1979. Edward also served on the board of Trustees for the American Council on German Studies in 1977.

Furthermore, Edward was a visiting Fulbright Program Lecturer to Germany in 1967 and received a Fulbright research grant in 1977 for work in Freiburg, Germany. He was awarded a Fulbright Research Professorships in Braunschweig and Regensburg and was named Carl Schurz Visiting Professor at the University of Dortmund in 1970. An active scholar, he wrote several books, articles and book reviews, and contributed to Spanish, French, and German textbooks.

This chalkboard champion passed away in Eugene, Oregon, on March 30, 1985, at the young age of 59.

Hollywood Actress Dee Green Takes Center Stage as Beloved Music and Choir Teacher

Often times talented educators achieve success in fields other than education. One such educator was Delores Mae Green, who is better known as Dee Green. Dee was a beloved music and choir teacher who was also an acclaimed actress. In Hollywood, her claim to fame is that she worked with the Three Stooges, and she is well-known for playing the part of one of Shemp's potential brides. She was the plain, tall, and fawning Miss Fanny Dinkelmeyer in the comedy short Brideless Groom. She also portrayed the homely and unattractive fiance in I'm a Monkey's Uncle and the daughter of King Rootintootin' in Mummy's Dummies.

Dee was born on November 16, 1916, in Peoria, Illinois. After her career in show business, she earned her master's degree in music. She taught music and choir classes at Peoria Heights Grade School in Peoria Heights, Illinois, in the 1960's. Throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's she taught Language Arts and Drama at Roosevelt Junior High, which is now known as Rockford Alternative Middle School, in Rockford, Illinois. She produced annual events, including a production of Babes in Toyland and numerous elaborate Christmas pageants that included every student in the school. Dee inspired more than one student to pursue a career in theater, some of whom eventually earned success on Broadway in New York. She was often described by her students as kind and generous, and a woman of great courage, talent, and vision.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on April 24, 1985.

Kindergarten Teacher Sara Ware Bassett Was Also a Prolific Writer of Novels for Young Adults

Talented teachers often earn acclaim in fields other than education. One such chalkboard champion was Sara Ware Bassett, a kindergarten teacher who worked in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts. Her career as a teacher spanned twenty years, but during these years, she was also a prolific author of books for young adults.

Sarah was born in 1872 and educated in Newton. Her family spent their summer vacations on Cape Cod. After her high school graduation, she attended the Lowell Institute of Design at MIT where she majored in textile design. She then studied writing at Radcliffe and Boston University. In her later years, she divided her time between homes in Princeton and Cape Cod.

She began her career as an author writing a series of non-fiction books for young adults. The series was entitled The Story of Lumber, The Story of Wool, etc., but it was through fiction that her talent was really evident.  Many of her novels focus on love stories and humorously eccentric characters. She wrote over forty novels for young people, most with Cape Cod as the setting. Some of these titles were Within the Harbor, Hidden Shoals, and Flood Tides. The novels usually took place in the town of Belleport, a locale which she created that seemed so real to her hundreds of readers that they could not believe it did not really exist. Many readers made pilgrimages up and down the Cape looking for it! Two of her novels were even made into movies. Her very first novel, The Taming of Zenah Henry, became the movie Captain Hurricane when it was released by RKO. The Harbor Road filmed by Universal became Danger Ahead.

During her lifetime, Sarah cut an unusual figure around town, resembling a character in an English detective novel. She dressed as one would expect Agatha Christie's character Miss Marple would have dressed, sporting tweed skirts, a man's shirt, and sensible walking shoes. She was often seen around Princeton as she conducted her daily errands at the post office or the general store.

When she passed away in 1968 at the age of 95, she left a legacy of over 500 books of her own writings and those of her contemporaries to the Boston Public Library. The collection is now part of their Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection.

Chalkboard Champion and Veteran Bob Dettmer Also Serves in Minnesota House of Representatives

Many a chalkboard champion has distinguished himself in fields other than education. One such educator is Robert P. Dettmer, a retired teacher who is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Bob was born in 1951 on a dairy farm in Faribault, Minnesota. He attended Bemidji State University, where he graduated in 1973 with his bachelor's degree in health and physical education. He earned his master's degree in education curriculum and instruction from the University of St. Thomas.

Following his college graduation, he accepted his first position as a teacher at Forest Lake High School in Minnesota, where he taught physical education and coached wrestling. He worked there until 2007, when he retired after thirty-four years in the profession.

During Bob's tenure as Head Wrestling Coach, he accumulated a record of 399-144-2. This record ranks Bob 25th out of 321 high school wrestling coaches in the state of Minnesota. Bob also has received numerous awards as an athlete and as a coach. He was named the  NAIA National Wrestling Champion. He has also been inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Bemidji State Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,and   the David Bartelma Wrestling Hall of Fame. He has also earned both High School and College Athlete of the Year awards. During his career as a wrestling coach, Bob has coached 15 individual state champions, 64 individual state place winners, 115 individual state participants, one state team champion, one fourth place, and one fifth place finish. He currently officiates high school wrestling matches for the Minnesota State High School League.

Bob is also a veteran, serving in the United States Army Reserve as a Chief Warrant Officer in the military intelligence branch. In November, 2001, he began a two-year tour of active duty supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. He also served during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was also an Army master fitness trainer for soldiers and taught many military courses for the Army. He was honored with his highest military award, The Legion of Merit, upon retirement from his twenty-five-year Army career. This award was given for exceptionally meritorious service to the United States while serving as Senior Intelligence Technician within the Military Intelligence Readiness Command.

In the Minnesota House of Representatives, Bob represents District 39A, located in the northeastern part of the Twin Cities Metro area. He was elected in 2006 to fill the open seat vacated by Representative Ray Vandeveer, who had made a bid for higher office that year. Bob was re-elected in 2008, 2010, and 2012. In the Minnesota House, this chalkboard champion focuses on the issues of education, health care reform, economic growth, transportation, veterans' issues, and public safety.