Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

It’s Saturday Night –

time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to:

1) It’s National Women’s History Month, so I’m going to use today’s prompt from Lisa Alzo. What education did your mother receive? Your grandmothers? Great-grandmothers? Note any advanced degrees or special achievements.

My mother attended Kansas State Teachers College after graduating from Emporia High School. As a student, she met my dad and married him at the end of her junior year. While her formal education stopped while she raised a young family, her informal education began when she started working part time as a medical secretary. After the family’s move to Emporia, mom continued her work as a medical secretary at St. Mary’s Hospital. During this time, she completed requirements to become certified as an Accredited Record Technician. and was named the Director of the Medical Records department at St. Mary’s. At the same time, she was going back to college to complete her degree receiving a Bachelor of Science in Business from Emporia State University.

While my grandma Crawford (Winnie Letha Currey Crawford) only talked about her being in school when her mother died, I did find a newspaper article indicating that she received a diploma from Horace Mann School in 1916. I find this achievement extremely remarkable since Winnie was placed in a children’s home for a time after her mother’s death in 1913 when Winnie was 10.

While grandma Crawford rarely talked about her schooling, grandma Briles did. My grandmother, Pauline Edith Briles Mentzer, told me her diploma was for high school graduation. In reality, that diploma was for completing the Common School Course of Study in School District No. 9 in Coffey County, Kansas in 1913. Pauline did attend high school by going to Yates Center to live with her future sister-in-law, Lulu Cope. However, she is not mentioned in any of the lists of graduates for Yates Center. Since Pauline was married in 1915, she may not have actually graduated from high school.

According to the 1930 census, my great grandmother, Josie Hammond Crawford, did not attend school but could read and write.

My great grandmother, Winnie Hutchinson Currey, did not live long enough to be in the 1930 census. Since her family seems to have moved a lot, she may not have attended school.

Like Josie, my great grandmother, Francis Artlissa Ricketts Briles is recorded in the 1930 census as not attending school but able to read and write.

The same is true for Nettie Adell Wells Mentzer. She is recorded in the 1930 census as being able to read and write while not having attended school.

Since my great grandmothers were able to read and write, they were likely educated in the home. Even though they did not have a formal education, their daughters did attend school with some of them not only graduating from high school but going on to receive additional degrees. Esther Crawford Noll, daughter of Josie, completed her nursing degree and served as a nurse during World War II. Gladys Mentzer, daughter of Nellie, attended Kansas State Teachers College and obtained a lifetime teaching certificate.