Annie Macbeth Schostag: 1893-1976
“Back to
School” calls to mind new pencils and notebooks and anxious children heading to
a new classroom. But it also applies to the dedicated teachers who head back to
work each fall—teachers like my great-aunt Annie Macbeth Schostag.
Annie was
my grandfather Ivan Macbeth’s middle sister. She was born June 1, 1893 to
Walter Macbeth and Lucy Dane Macbeth, the second of their six children, and
grew up on the family farm in LeRay Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota.
I am not
sure when she became a school teacher. I believe she attended some sort of
teacher training program—there is a city directory listing for her in 1914
listing her as a “student” and boarding in “rooms” at 513 North 5th
Street in Mankato. She was 21 years old then, so it must have been secondary
school, probably Mankato Normal School which trained teachers at that time. I
have not been able to find her in the Normal School yearbooks that still exist
from that era, however. The photo below shows her with other young women that looks like it was taken in her early twenties, so it could be her with other
teachers-in-training. She is at the far right.
By the date
of the 1920 census, Annie was 26 years old, living at home with her parents and
two youngest brothers, and was working as a teacher, probably at the nearby
Dickerson one-room school. My mother said that was where she taught, and she
appears in the photo below of Dickerson School students as the teacher in the
upper right corner.
I love the photo--it is fascinating
to see the range of ages in the class. Annie may have had her own young brothers
as students—they attended Dickerson, but may have been in high school by the
date the photo was taken. Look at how cold the weather was—the students were
all bundled up. Using the restroom involved going out in the cold to an
outhouse. The inside of the school was probably heated by a wood or
coal-burning stove, which wouldn’t have kept the building very warm in the
winter months. Students sat at wooden desks fastened to the floor, with the
youngest in the front at the smallest desks, and the older students at the back.
Differentiated instruction was the rule of the day—teachers at these schools
prepared dozens of lessons each day, teaching three or four levels of English,
math, and history. It was a lonely, hard, and poorly paid life.
I am not
sure how many years Annie taught. By the 1930 census, she was married to Gustaf
Schostag and was living in Decoria with him and his mother. She was no longer
teaching; schools usually forbade hiring married women as teachers.
Annie
Gus
Annie and
Gus never had any children. Gus farmed for many years before retiring to the
small town of St. Clair where they lived until their deaths. I remember them as
a sweet old couple who we visited occasionally when I was in grade school. I
remember on one occasion, probably around 1966 0r 1967, Annie made my brother
and I chocolate milk shakes on a warm summer day, much to our delight. She was
having a little trouble with daily tasks at that point—my grandmother had been
appalled at the state of the house. I suspect Annie, then in her seventies, might
have had the beginnings of dementia. She must have used spoiled milk in the
milkshakes, as both my brother and I became violently ill a few hours after
drinking them. My mother never felt comfortable eating there again. Poor Aunt
Annie!
1961
Annie died
March 19, 1976 at age 82, and was buried in the Eagle Lake Cemetery.
No comments:
Post a Comment