#161--First--Aunt Gert Goes to College

The theme this week is first.  Who was your first ancestor to do something? One of Amy Johnson Crow’s suggestions was go to college.  Now I worked at a University for a number of years so I found that kind of an interesting suggestion.  But I wanted to give it a twist.  Not who was the first ancestor to go to college, but who was the first female ancestor to go to college. 

However, before I figured that out, I wanted to learn a little bit more about women and education.  In the colonial period, it was believed that women needed only to learn to read so that they would be able to read the bible.  They were taught in small dame schools or at home.  By the middle of the 1800’s some people believed that to be good mothers and wives women needed to receive an education equal to men while others believed that such an education would make them unable to fulfill their traditional role.  By the 1830’s some women were attending seminaries, academies, and normal schools, where the curriculum was similar to that of men’s colleges.  After the Civil War in the Midwest, colleges under pressure from parents began to admit women. 

Gertrude Hannah

I am pretty sure that my first female ancestor to attend college was Gertrude Hannah, my great aunt.  Aunt Gert was born on March 27, 1868, in Butler, Missouri.  Her parents were John Wesley and Jennie Sophia (Willey) Hannah.  Aunt Gert was the oldest of six children.  I do not know where Aunt Gert went to elementary or high school.  However, I do know that there was both a public high school and a private high school, Butler Academy. Since her brother William attended a private high school, I am assuming, and I may be very wrong, that Aunt Gert attended Butler Academy.

I remembered searching the Butler newspapers for information about Aunt Gert and seeing a note or two about Aunt Gert coming home from school to visit her parents.  I retrieved both the articles, neither one indicated what school, but one was clear that the school was in Clinton, Missouri.  An internet search indicated that only one college was in Clinton, Baird College.  So Aunt Gert went to Baird College. 

Baird College

A quick search of the web gave me a little information about Baird College, but not much.  Baird College was founded by Priscilla and Homer T. Baird in Clinton, Missiouri and opened in September 29th, 1885,  The college was located in a four story building. Two years after it opened, the college had 300 students, 100 of them were borders and the rest were day students.  The College operated until 1897.

A Picturesque City, Clinton Missouri had the following two pages devoted to Baird College:

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As I read the information, I was struck by the fact that it described the buildings, the furnishings, the water on every floor, the grounds, etc, but no where was I able to find out what the curriculum was 

If I could talk to Aunt Gert, I would ask her what years she was at Baird, what classes she took, did she get a degree, did she play sports, etc.