Editor's Notes:
- We've combined material from a couple of sources to create this document.
- We have not verified the accuracy of the biographies.
- Due to the nature of the material, we presume that the authors
took some liberty with the facts in their attempt to be humorous.
From:
History of Grub School
Teacher Biographies
by former students
Miss Linderwood
Miss Linderwood was the first teacher in the Old School House according to the
tradition of the oldest settlers. She was a good teacher and a good scholar. She was tall and
well formed with lively gray eyes, light hair and a yellowish blue complexion. Some
years subsequent she went down into Indiana and sacrificed herself upon the Altar of Hymen,
and became the wife of a practicing physician.
It is said her husband is very fond of poultry and allows his turkeys and hens to roost
nightly upon the headboard of his bed, with their heads pointing one way.
Mr. Hubbard
Mr. Hubbard was the first man teacher and tradition describes him as a short thickset
man, with full face, and light complexion and light hair. He was a good scholar and kept a good
school. It is said, he used to lick the large scholars like the devil, and used to put the noses of
the smaller ones in split sticks, most of the middle aged people about here now, were the small
fry then and many of them in those days used often to wear the split stick upon their nose. Mr.
Hubbard died a number of years since in the now populous city of Waukegan with small pox.
Miss Reed
Miss Reed the next teacher was a tall young lady with black hair and eyes. She was
inclined to be old maidish. She was very dressy and had a good taste for good victuals.
She was a good teacher and kept two or three terms. She finally went down to
Massachusetts and got married from the effect of which she died soon after.
Miss Charlotte Miller
Miss Charlotte Miller comes upon the carpet next. She was a dark eyed maiden of
Dutch descent; it does not follow from this that she was fond of lager beer, balogna sausage or
sour kraut. She was a good teacher and very strict. So strict that she only allowed her scholars
to blow their noses on Sunday. It is said that she used to gag the scholars by stuffing into their
mouths old hats and bags. Some years after she became cribbed and now is happy in domestic
bliss.
James Dodge, Esq.
James Dodge, Esq. now steps upon the throne so long occupied by women. He was a
good man and a good scholar. He was too good to keep school; he was very indulgent and
allowed the scholars big and little to do just as they pleased, but the scholars never went to far
as to tickle his nose with a feather, or to put shoemakers wax upon his chair, but whenever he
was called from the school house they would pile into his dinner pail like a lot of rats. He is well
known to us all, for he lives not far about here.
Miss Smith
Miss Smith young, pretty with a fair skin, light hair, red cheeks, and blue eyes
follows after Mr. Dodge. She was a good teacher and a good scholar. There was a young
fellow who used to come often and see her, with who she loved to be alone. Since then she has
been twice married and has now twelve children, to look after, and is still young enough to look
after twelve more and no doubt she will have them.
Ann Hockaday
Ann Hockaday comes next, who has not heard of Good Ann Hockaday? She was
a fair scholar and kept a good school. She was good looking with a fair white skin, blue eyes,
and a nice head of hair with a slender and rather a fine form.
She looked young then, but not any younger than she looks now. She was a spinster
then is a spinster now. It is said that long ago, she came very near being married, so near, in
fact that many years ago, Mr. Purvis went home with her one night from a sing school or oyster
supper. She has bloomed long and may she bloom longer.
Miss C. Adams
Miss C. Adams comes next. She was a good teacher and a very fine looking young
lady. She married Major Pollock but has recently died much beloved and lamented.
Miss Reynolds
Miss Reynolds comes next. She was good looking, honest in figure, fair skin with blue
eyes. She had what is called a pot foot nose or a turnip nose. She was fond of young men,
what young lady is not? She was a smart young lady with lively temperament; she kept a good
school. She sleeps now in the silent grave.
Mr. Lindsay
Mr. Lindsay is the next man teacher. He was a tall man, and thin, but not so thin as
clapboard, or so long as a rail. He had black hair and eyes. he was a good teacher and a fair
scholar. He used to take the scholars across his knee and warm up their understandings. He
said their thoughts flowed more freely after it. He was fond of wrestling, but he happened one
night while up at Hickory to find his match, for he was thrown and his arm broken. It is said he
was fond of potatoes and buttermilk. he married soon after and went to a distant state. It is
reported he has taken to the bottle and is going
to the bad.
Mr. Hamilton
Mr. Hamilton another man followed next was middling tall, thin with black hair and
eyes. He was a good teacher but there was nothing remarkable about him . He would always
scratch when he itched, laugh when he felt tickled and would always shut his eyes when he went
to sleep and open his mouth when he wanted to put anything into it. It is said that Charles
Huntley and he resembled each other in this respect very much.
Mr. Spooner
Mr. Spooner another man of the male gender appeared on the carpet to teach the
young idea how to shoot. He was of medium size, light complexion and light hair and by no
means a beauty, but was given to foppish ways. He kept a good school and was fond of bean
porridge and the girls. He always had a bad cold for which he took so many pocket
handkerchiefs per day. In consequence of not having a sap bucket near at hand his nasal
protuberances was very troublesome, and when a handkerchief was not forth coming he would
wipe his nose on his coat sleeves, sometimes on a stick of wood and sometimes on the side of
the school house.
Old School House and its memories cont.
We concluded our last article upon the Old School
House with Mr. Spooner. The delay in finishing another article was in consequence of the
difficulty in obtaining materials concerning the short but eventful history of the Old School
House. I find upon investigation that are fact leads to the discovery of many more.
In short so many fact, anecdotes and events, have transpired in the history of the Old
School House as to make one almost stagger under their multiplicity; but time will permit us only
to give a brief history of each of its teachers as they are remembered by the oldest inhabitants,
and as their memories have been handed down in the traditions of the Old School House.
The history of its teachers must necessarily be very imperfect from the fact that many of
it's teachers after leaving the Old School House became last in the great whirlpool of humanity
and their subsequent history must remain forever untold. But who can write the history of its
Scholars? Who can write of the love that found root there which sometimes resulted in
happenings and sometimes in misery and sorrow. That leads reflect only on the -----
Who can write of the hates, the jealousies and heartaches that found being
there, and will only cease with life itself?
Who can trace their wandering from the Old School House? Oh! how many have
wandered away from their early homes and early friends never to return? Some are threading
the marts of the great cities; some have gone down to the seas; some are toiling up the Rocky
Mountain slopes and gazing on the wide expanse of the distant Pacific; some repose forever
upon the silent battlefield on the lone mountain side or on the lonely shores of Southern rivers;
and how many are now sleeping in country grave yards? waiting for that resurrection which
must come to us all.
We will now resume our narrative of the teachers who held forth in he old school house.
After Mr. Spooner succeeded:
Miss Allen
Miss Allen a very fine young lady, with a slender form, with black hair and black eyes.
It is said she was a good teacher but was very fond of spoon victuals? We know that infants
live by suction, so do pigs, so do calves, and so do those who live on spoon victuals. Miss
Allen thought to live thus, was the normal condition of mankind.
She married soon after a lawyer who has his shingle hung forth in the great city of
Chicago. They make a good couple, but she wears the breeches and feeds her husband on
toast and sweetened water.
Mrs. Pantall
Mrs. Pantall follows. She was a good teacher and well liked by the scholars.
She was a married woman then and is a married woman now. She was good looking
with dark eyes and hair with a rounded full and well developed form. She has a curly headed
shoemaker for a husband and it is said he is very devoted to her. They are a very respectable
couple and live now at Millburn. Mrs. Pantall is the Oracle and Priestess of the lodge of Good
Templars at Millburn. While she was teaching school an animal which we ladies call a
gentleman cow, made a furious attack upon her person and with his horns divested her of much
of her wearing apparel. She survived however to be succeeded by Miss Whipple.
Miss Whipple
Miss Whipple was a large young lady. She was very polite and well liked. Her hair
curled on the front part of her head. She had blue eyes and a fair skin. She was very clever,
but no beauty. She was a good teacher, but wanted to get married. She married at last a
widower who it is said one wife dead and one wife living after she married him. She soon after
went to Michigan and has never been heard from since. Let me say here young ladies should
beware of young gentlemen should never allow widows to soft soap them or to tickle them
under the chin or any where else. It is said that Miss Whipple was fond of honey and pickles.
Miss Trotter
We come now to Miss Trotter a very fine young lady. She kept a good school and was
very much respected. She had light hair, light blue eyes and light complexion with a very small
mouth. She is now married and lives near Millburn and makes a good and happy wife but has
no children and therefore gives her whole undivided and devoted attention to her husband.
Miss McIntyre
Miss McIntyre succeeds. She was a good teacher and kept a very strict school. She
had dark hair and dark eyes and a dark complexion. She was a good singer and was very
dressy. She is now teaching in the state of Michigan. At last accounts she was not married, and
if not married now must be approaching the sear and yellow leaf of life, but still there is hope
while there is life, therefore none need despair of at least getting married, children are special
blessings and cannot always be guaranteed to elderly females.
Miss Celestia McIntyre
Now comes upon the carpet Miss Celestia McIntyre sister of the former. She was
called Sip on account of her diminutive size. She was a good teacher, had blue eyes light hair.
She was a good scholar and a good singer, but she was very quick tempered. Whether she
was fed on whisky (prap) in her infancy tradition saith not, but it is reasonable to suppose that
whisky had something to do with her diminutive size. Whether her getting out of bed wrong end
foremost every morning, had anything to do with her bad temper we are not prepared to say,
but it has been our experience that getting out of bed right side up makes a vast difference in the
temper.
What has become of Miss McIntyre we are unable to state, but we conjecture she
married long before this, as she was got upon the most economical plan possible.
Henry Webb
Henry Webb comes to the stage now. He was a very small young man and he
succeeded a very small young woman. He had light hair and eyes. He was little then but is littler
now. he was not cut out for a teacher and kept a very indifferent school. He was rather cruel
on account of keeping his teeth always out of doors. He tried very hard in those days to raise a
mustache, but has succeeded after years of labor to coax them out with cream and sugar. He
lives not far about here and devotes his time to raising vegetables and a family.
Mr. Manville
We now come to Mr. Manville. He was tall and slender, had a sandy face and brick
colored whiskers. He was a poor teacher, but a good scholar. He lacked common sense. He
professed to be a lawyer, and was a great talker by reason of which he sadly imposed upon the
dubious people of Millburn who thot he knew much more than he really did. he was death on
beans and onions. To be a great talker a man must be long winded, probably it was the above
diet, that enabled him to talk so much. What he saw, ate, and how he lodged in one house he
would always tell in the next. He used to tell in almost every family that there was one house
where he did not like to board because when he retired he had to crawl over three grass
widows every night to get to the bed assigned to him for his repose.
His scholars at last rebelled and smoked him out. He left in disgust, went to Iowa, got
married and settled down to the practice of law.
Mr. Welch
Now comes Mr. Welch, he was an old and experienced teacher. He taught a good
school. He was a large man then but is a larger man now. He had brown hair which hung down
upon his back and shoulders in long bushy tangled and disordered masses. Whether the girls
kept away from him because they suspected that wild animals ranged in unbounded freedom
through his dense masses of brown hair, tradition saith not, or whether it was on account of his
innate modesty, for he used to blush like a rose whenever a young lady approached him. He
had blue eyes out of which at times he used to look wild and stern. A well proportioned nose
and mouth and dimpled chin, which was then covered by a full and heavy brown beard. He had
very broad shoulders and a square face. he was fond of cold potatoes and salt.
He was very strict on composition and the scholars enjoyed Friday afternoon. They
loved to listen to the many compositions which their teacher read. Soon after he went to the
great city of Chicago where he was admitted to the bar, and soon after married one of his black
eyed scholars with whom he fell in love while teaching. Young ladies beware of young
gentlemen teachers.
Miss Jane E. Welch
Miss Jane E. Welch follows next. She was sister
to Mr. Welch. She was a good teacher and a good scholar and kept a good school. She had a
rounded and well developed form, blue eyes, a round expressive face and a fine head of curly
hair. She married soon after our present County Treasurer. They have one child and are a very
happy couple.
Henry Gale
Henry Gale comes next in form he was shaped like a Chinese Junk or in other words he
was like a dog always tallest when setting down. He was a very indifferent scholar and kept a
very poor school. He had light gray eyes and light hair. He married
soon after and has settled down into domestic tranquillity.
It is said that she wears his breeches and he wears the smocks. "an every exchange is
to robbery". His wife since her marriage has devoted her attention to making cheese and
butter, using her husband as a model and press for her cheese and as a stamp for her butter.
Sarah Warner
Miss Sarah Warner comes next. She was nothing extra as a teacher. She used to
commence school about 10 o'clock in the morning and let out about 3:o'clock
in the afternoon. She was short and slender in person, with light hair and blue eyes looking out
from a pale face. She married soon after a man old enough to be her grandfather. Beware
young ladies of old men. There is nothing causes more unhappiness in married life than
desparity in years.
Susan Smith
Now comes Miss Susan Smith. She was a good teacher, a good scholar and a good
girl. She kept a good school. She had a mellow hazel eye, regular features and a pensive
poetical face, and a beautiful head of curly hair. She received her education, at least the most
part of it in the old school house. By many of the teachers and scholars her curly head will long
be remembered. She is not married yet. She lives not far from here.
Miss Johnson
Miss Johnson comes next. She was a good teacher. She was tall and slender, dark
hair, blue eyes and a yellow white skin. She was a very small eater for one that was always
hungry. She was indifferent to what she eats, something like an Ostrich, an animal it is said that
eats nails, glass and rails with equal relish to the most digestible substances. She finally married
an ambassador of Christ. Although he dealt with spiritual things he was carnal enough to have
a child. They are now out in Iowa.
Sarah White
Miss Sarah White comes next. She was a good teacher and had a good opinion of
herself. She had a slender form, light skin, light blue eyes and red golden hair. She was quite
prim. She is not married yet, but I presume will be when the sign come right. I have not the
least doubt but she would like to get married. She is now teaching in Waukegan.
Miss Mary Hughes
Now comes Miss Mary Hughes. She was a good teacher and well liked by the
scholars. She had light blue eyes and light hair and was of medium height. She had a
disposition full of vivacity and life. She is not married yet but is still engaged in the occupation of
teaching. Oh! long may she wave.
Mr. Benedict
Mr. Benedict is our last teacher, because he is last he is not least. It is said in Holy writ
that the last shall be first, whether this is true in Mr. Benedict's case or not I am not prepared to
say, but at all events he is a good teacher. His personal appearance, his domestic life, for he is
a married man and has been whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, must be
left to the future historians. Much of the peculiarities, person appearances and personal history
of the teachers within the memory of the present generation must be left to the next generations
for impartial justice.
Editor's Note:
The above teachers all taught before 1872.
The following list of teachers begins in 1872. It comes from Gussie Hughes.
Peter Fisher
Taught four years. Elected County Supt of Schools in 1881.
Mr. Sabin
From Antioch
Hattie Brainard
From Ivanhoe.
Addie Pollock
From Millburn.
Miss Alice Smith
Miss Goodhand
Alfred Spafford
From Millburn.
Alice Cunningham
Bessie Baker
Miss McCredie
From Millburn.
Adaline Anderson
Velma Goddard
Myrtle Norman
From Antioch.
Miss Minto
Last teacher, received $900.00. Lived just north of Oakland Cemetery.
Grubb School ceased to exist on July 15, 1935.
