Saturday, April 23, 2016

Autograph Album Given in 1873 to Teacher Miss Agnes Reilly at Lock Haven High School, Pennsylvania


Autograph album given in 1873 to Miss Agnes Reilly by the girls of Lock Haven High School at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

Most of the autographs were inscribed on December 25, 1873.  The last three in the album were inscribed in 1878 and 1883.


The album measures approximately 7-3/4" by 5" and contains the sentiments of 39 of Miss Reilly's students and friends.  An alphabetical surname list and an alphabetical list of the inscribers, together with any personal information they offered, appear at the end of this post.


Agnes Reilly's Find-a-Grave listing gives her birth and death years as 1853 and 1916, with her mother Annie Reilly and sisters buried with her in the Highland Cemetery at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.

According to the section on Lock Haven in Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for the Year Ending 1880, Agnes was a graduate of Lewisburg Seminary, connected to what is now Bucknell University.  Her name and residence of Lock Haven, appear in a Bucknell publication as having been a member of the Class of 1861.

An article in the June 8, 1950 issue of The Express of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, mentions that Agnes was the first acting principal of the high school at Lock Haven; at the time it had 81 pupils. The article also mentions that Agnes was qualified as a teacher in 1874; she's included in an 1874 list of teachers receiving permanent certificates.  The album implies that she had been teaching earlier, at least in the fall term of 1873, perhaps on a provisional certificate.

Agnes became principal of Lock Haven High School in 1875 when the high school was changed to include both male and female students.  There was at one time, and perhaps still is, a scholarship in her name.

She also taught classes at Central State Normal School established at Lock Haven in the summer of 1874 by Professor Albert Newton Raub; the institution is now known as Lock Haven University.  Professor Raub inscribed the page after the presentation page, in Agnes' album.


If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, please leave a comment for the benefit of other researchers.

Surnames in the Album

AAllebachJJohnsonRRaubWWaddle
BBatchlerJonesReedWaldron
Berger [2]KKellyReillyWalters [4]
BrownKintzing [3]ReynoldsWatson
BurlewLLucasRippyWestbrook
CCaldwellMMacklemRobertsWorner
DDonaldsonMastellerSShafferWright
HHanscomMooreSperring
HarbStahlsmith
Hudson

Inscribers in the Album - given names in a surname might not be in alphabetical order

A
  • Kate R. Allebach of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, inscribed on December 25, 1873
B
  • Mary Batchler, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Katie Berger, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Lizzie Berger, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Lizzie Brown, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Jennie Burlew, inscribed to "Dear Teacher".  Jane D. Burlew
C
  • Elma Caldwell, inscribed on December 25, 1873
D
  • Jennie Donaldson, inscribed on December 25, 1873
H
  • Ida Hanscom, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Lizzie Harb, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Harold W. Hudson of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, inscribed on November 3, 1883
J
  • Ada Johnson, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Ella J. Jones, inscribed by "your pupil", on December 25, 1873
K
  • Hattie Kelly
  • Anna M. Kintzing, Jr., on December 28, 1873; sister of inscribers Laura Kintzing and Frank Kintzing
  • Laura Kintzing, inscribed on December 25, 1873; sister of inscribers Anna M. Kintzing and Frank Kintzing
  • Frank Kintzing, inscribed on December 25, 1873.  Brother of inscribers Anna M. Kintzing and Laura Kintzing
L
  • Ella J. Lucas, "your loving pupil"
M
  • Helen G. Macklem of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, on December 25, 1873
  • Maggie A. Masteller, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Carrie Moore, inscribed to "Dear Teacher", on December 25, 1873
R
  • A. N. Raub of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
  • Mamie Reed, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Miss Agnes Reilly, a teacher at Lock Haven High School at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania; the album was given to her by her female students in 1873
  • Almira Reynolds, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Emma A. Rippy, inscribed to "Dear Teacher" on December 25, 1873
  • Ella Roberts, inscribed on December 25, 1873
S
  • Annie Shaffer, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Ruth A. Sperring of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Clara Stahlsmith, inscribed on December 25, 1873
W
  • Mary Waddle, inscribed on June 15, 1878
  • Addie S. Waldron, inscribed to "Dear Teacher" on December 25, 1873
  • Emma M. Walters, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Maud Walters, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Tudie Walters, inscribed on December 25, 1873; not sure of nickname.  
  • Mary Walters, inscribed on June 15 [no year written, but presumably 1878, the date another inscriber used]
  • Martha M. Watson, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Lizzie Westbrook, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Maggie Worner, inscribed on December 25, 1873
  • Edith E. Wright, inscribed to "Dear Teacher"

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