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Pioneer Teachers Not Paid Well But Highly RespectedFew pioneer teachers made a full living from the profession --- cash being a scarce asset in early southwest Florida. Teaching salaries were supplemented with farming or trade skills. Motivation for most teachers was the feeling of personal satisfaction derived from providing a community service. Consequently They were accorded great respect. If young and single, teachers were given board and room amongst leading families. Men with administrative authority, such as principal or superintendent, were commonly addressed as "professor." Few women on the frontier were given positions of authority --- partly because unmarried women teachers were too young, and when married they gave first priority to their families. Nevertheless, young women generally were the first teachers in backwoods communities. It was not unusual for women teachers to be 15 or 16 years of age, in charge of lower grades, because they married early and became mothers. If a girl wasn't married by the time she was 20 she was considered at least a "bachelor girl," if not an "old maid." Few teachers had "normal school" (college) training. Those that did not have a teaching degree had to attend six-week training courses at Arcadia, Wauchula or Bartow in the summer every three years to qualify for a teaching certificate. Boys in their teens rarely went beyond the sixth grade. Their labor was needed for the strenuous work of helping support the family. They tended cattle, pruned citrus trees, farmed vegetables, fished, trapped coons for pelts, hunted alligators for hides, or apprenticed for trades. Those boys who did go on to eighth grade tended to be boisterous and unruly. Young women teachers near their own age had difficulty controlling them. Teachers of all grades administered corporal punishment freely --- with switches for youngest children, hefty paddles for older boys. The practice was approved by parents. A common admonition was, "If you get a licking in school, you will get another when you get home!" * * * Professor U.S. Whiteaker, grandfather of Punta Gorda Historian U.S. Cleveland, was typical of his era. He came from LaBelle, Missouri, with his bride, Nora (nee Chapman), in 1888 to teach at Brooksville, Fla. Whiteaker supplemented his meager teaching pay over the years as a farmer, grocer, carpenter, and cigar manufacturer. At Brooksville, Nora bore a daughter, Jean, who grew up to become at teacher at Harbor View on the north shore of Charlotte Harbor and mother of Cleveland. Unfortunately, Nora became seriously ill and was given only six months to live. Whereupon, the Whiteakers returned to Missouri so Nora could spend her last days among her kin folks. Despite the prognostication, Nora regained her health after a couple of years; and they came to Punta Gorda in 1906 to open a grocery. As discussed, last week, the Punta Gorda School which opened on Goldstein Street in 1896, was enlarged with a second floor in 1902. Four senior grades were added to the curriculum in 1904. Students in the area around the harbor wanting a full, public education had to get themselves to Punta Gorda as best they could. The first, and only, senior to be graduated was Ruby Hill in 1906. In that year, the school had seven students in three grades of high school. Professor Foulk was the principal. W. E. Bell, formerly principal at the school, was appointed the first superintendent of schools for DeSoto County which then included what is now Charlotte County. The Punta Gorda Herald reported in September 1907:
The faculty listed was G. B. Davis, principal; Mrs. Mary Butler, first assistant (with Davis teaching grades 7-12; Miss Hattie Heusted, grades 5-6); Miss Parnelle Chevis, grades 4 and part of 3; Miss Viola Anderson, grades 2 and part of 3; and Miss Blanche Wilcox, primary department. By 1908, the combined school was overcrowded, and only Miss Anderson and Miss Wilcox signed on for another year. Five new faculty members were hired for the 1908-9 school year. They were Professor C.A. Keith, principal; Professor U.S. Whiteaker, assistant principal who continued to operate his grocery with the help of Nora; Mrs. Celia Richard; Miss Anna Price; and Miss Agnes King. Their grades taught were not mentioned. Whiteaker drew up plans for a new, larger school of concrete blocks. A site was purchased on the southeast corner of Taylor Street and Charlotte Avenue. Work began in the summer of 1910 when it was noted that the enrollment at the Goldstein Street school had reached 225 pupils, taught by six teachers. The Herald noted at the start of the school year in September:
Whiteaker did not teach at the school he designed because he sold his grocery and devoted his energy to manufacturing cigars. This did not succeed so he accepted teaching jobs at various towns where carpentry work also was available. Among his assignments were those at Okeechobee, Gasparilla, and Boca Grande. Eventually he returned to Punta Gorda and spent his last years as a farmer and carpenter. Classes at Goldstein Street school marched to their new building on Taylor Street in the spring of 1911. Though all 12 grades were taught, the senior class seldom topped a dozen students. The play ground was divided for boys and girls, with large privies for each sex. A couple of years later, wings on each side of the building were added for indoor rest rooms. High school boys had teams for football, baseball and basketball. Girls had a basketball team, and a Glee Club for singing. The old school building was sold to Dr. Eugene J. Whidden who converted it to a "Sanitorium" (sic). He sold in in the early 1920's to Clay Chadwic, who turned the building into hotel rooms which he named The Inn. The structure was remodeled a few years ago, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and divided into apartments. Mrs. R.G. Walls opened a "finishing school" for girls in 1913. It provided instruction in "general business practices, secretarial skills, and the arts." With opening of the Punta Gorda High School on Taylor Street, Miss Pepper closed her little private school in her front parlor and returned to the public school. She devoted the rest of her active life teaching the primary grades. The oldest residents of Punta Gorda today recall with fondness their first years at school under the tutelage of Miss Pepper. The late Nathanial "Doc" McQueen recalled Miss Pepper for the history, In Old Punta Gorda, by Angie Larkin:
Miss Pepper's enthusiasm for teaching inspired some of her pupils to follow in her footsteps. One of these was Minta (nee Hopper) Harper. M/M Calvin and Rose Hopper brought their family came from Texas to Punta Gorda in 1913. Rose supplemented the family income as a teacher at Cleveland, Charlotte Harbor Town, Punta Gorda and Acline. Minta's teacher here in the third grade was Miss Pepper. Minta completed her public school education in Charlotte County, and was the first girl to receive a state scholarship for teaching. Upon receiving her teaching certificate, Minta taught a year at Lake Butler then returned to Punta Gorda to teach mathematics. She married Willie Harper and continued teaching for 38 years. Another of Miss Pepper's prominent pupils was Leo Wotitzky, grandson of a merchant who came to Punta Gorda in 1886 just as it started to develop from a tidal flat. Leo was fortunate in having Miss Pepper as a teacher all the way through school. Leo started college during the depression, but had to drop out temporarily for lack of funds. He took a teaching job first at Crescent City, then at Punta Gorda High School where he taught mathematics and edited the Herald. He married Miss Zena Cox, a home economics teacher; then returned to college, was elected to the state legislature and earned a law degree to become one of the county's leading attorneys. About this time a Punta Gorda drug store held a Miss Popularity contest in which customers voted when making purchases. The winner was Miss Sallie Jones, a Pepper pupil who was destined to become an outstanding teacher and administrative educator in the county. NEXT WEEK: Today's Schools. Author: Lindsey Williams oooooooooooo END STORY ooooooooo cutline 1 Photos courtesy Charlotte Harbor Area Historical Society [Punta Gorda Grammar and High School shortly after it was built on Taylor Street in early 1911. Privies out back were separated between boys, girls, and teachers.] cutline 2 [Irene Gatewood, a student at the Punta Gorda Grammar and High School, models the uniform of bloomers and loose blouses for girls' basketball team. Building in background was the Hotel Punta Gorda. Varsity games were played on the front lawn. williams --- educate for sunday --- Jan. 2 6 col head and byline logo for our fascinating past oooooooooo [Third Of Series] oooooooooo |