Education is a topic that I felt ill-prepared to write about. I may need some schooling myself. First, I agonized about which ancestor to choose. Then I realized that I haven't done much research about my ancestors' educational attainment at all. Information about their schooling was merely auxilary facts, possibly noted when researching, but likely overshadowed by dates, places, and relationships. I've never taken the steps to write about anyone's educational history as a cohesive story. If I've previously found an ancestor who was a teacher, I do not recall one this week.
My maternal grandfather had a masters degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University in Berlin. My paternal grandparents both graduated from high schools in Indianapolis. I'm not so sure I'd know where any of my great-grandparents attended school. Plus, did I ever stop and really look closely at that census schedule? What was their highest level of education? I didn't even know which high school my paternal grandmother's sister attended. I knew that my grandmother attended and graduated from Shortridge High School since I had seen her high school yearbook photo. But what about her older sister Libby? After some digital collection searching, the mystery was solved. Elizabeth"Libby" Davie attended Arsenal Technical High School, appearing in the 1931 yearbook.
It is always interesting to see the census schedule data columns that denote whether someone could read or write. It can be equally puzzling when first viewing a document where someone had to make "their mark" because they could not sign their name.
Going even further back on my family tree, it became obvious that my 3x great-grandmother Rebecca Jane Gibson Maynard could not write her own name and likely could not read. When I found the probate file from her second husband, she had signed "her X mark" on the court papers. She initially had been appointed the administratrix, however, she soon had someone else take on the task, namely, her father Jasper N. Gibson. With ten children, how would she have the time to file all of the paperwork anyway?
It is likely as a child that Rebecca Jane didn't have much opportunity to even attend school in Marion County, Indiana. This was a time when the public school system was nearly nonexistent. There was a book (published by the Genealogical Society of Marion County) with the title, Student Lists from Warren Township, Marion County, Indiana, 1856-1865, which was definitely a source to check. Unfortunately, Rebecca Jane Gibson was not listed. There is hope that some of her cousins and neighbors were able to attend school since the lists contain other Gibsons, Groves, and McVeys.
In the school of life, it is certain that Rebecca Jane was well-educated. She'd raised 10 children, outlived four husbands, witnessed the Civil War, and lived into the Great Depression.
