MARY ANN
PIONEER TEACHER AND HOMEMAKER

Mary Ann (Hughes)  Whalen was born at Waukashau, Wisconsin, on June 21, 1863. She was the daughter ofJohnand Mary(McNeely) Hughes who were immigrants from Ireland. The familyhad lived first in Michigan before moving to Wisconsin. Mary had an older brother, Jim Hughes,who drowned at the age of 16, and an older sister,Catherine, who was always called, "Kate". She had a younger brother, John Hughes Jr. Their mother died when Mary Ann was five years old, in 1868. For the next three years, the children were cared for by their father's mother, Mrs.Catherine (Kelly) Hughes. Then their father re-married, in 1871 .His second wife was a widow, Mrs.Catherine (Nolan) Whelan, who had five young children of her own. They were Maggie, John, Will, Jim and MaryWhelan,who lived at Hudson, Wisconsin, on a farm. That is where the combined family lived after the wedding, and for several years, until they moved up to northern Minnesota in 1878. The family, including Granny Hughes, Mr. and Mrs.John HughesSr. and the eight young people made the trip covered wagons up to St. Paul and had a brief stay with relatives there

Mary Annand her sister, Kate,may have remained with their relatives for they did not accompany the rest of the family on the 300 mile trip northward, to what would later become Marshall County. Instead, they arrived in the fall or winter, after the railroad was completed between Crookston and the Canadian Border .

Late in 1878, the Hughes sisters, then young ladies of seventeen (Kate) and fifteen (Mary Ann)arrived on the first passenger carrying train to stop at the new little settlement on the Tamarac River, where their father, John Hughes, had been hired by the railroad to keep the "Section House." This was a non-scheduled stop, as the regular station for disembarking passengers was at Kennedy, some fifteen miles further north. On that historic occasion, however, the train stopped at Tamarac because the train's cook was out of soda and wanted to replenish his supply at the Section House. The girls may have persua - ded the cook or the engineer to get his soda from "Papa", and incidentally, to let them off the train. At any rate, that is exactly what happened. The cook got his soda and the Hughes sisters were spared the necessity of going up to Kennedy and then waiting for a long, cold, ride back to the Tamarac via horse and wagon..

The big main room of the section house must have buzzed with conversation when the two girls arrived, full of stories of their experiences while living with their relatives in and around St Paul, since April. Of course the rest of the family would not be outdone either, in relating all that had occurred on the frontier during those months. Johnny and Will were full of railroading stories. Papa, John Hughes Sr., had much to tell of the politcal manu - manuvering planned for getting the state legislature to organize the area into a new county when it convened in the new year. Maggie and Mary (Alice) as well as "Granny" Hughes and their step-mother, had tales of housekeeping accomplishments and frustrations to recount. And of course, the stay-at-home boys, Jim Whalenand John Hughes Jr., must retell all their favorite summer escapades, i.e. Jim's ill-fated hike to Angus when he tried to get a job on the railroad and was rejected.

The rest of the winter fairly flew by with all that must be done. The irregular arrival of trains, meant work for every able-bodied male, while the similarly unscheduled arrival of workable
-bodied male, while the similarly unscheduled arrival of work crews, busy with repairing the tracks and always hungry, kept the women-folk busy. The big stew pots to fill and wash and fill again, the never ending wet coats and boots to be dried out around the fire and made ready for the men as they went back to work, were all part of the days work for them. And, ready for the men as they went back to work, were all part of the days work for them. And there was all the cooking, washing and cleaning for a family of eleven.

Just as Papa had predicted, the state legislature did address itself to the question of legal status for the new 1879, formally created Marshall County. It was named after William Rainey Marshall, a former governor of Minnesota. This legal action was immediately seized upon by the men of the new communities, as a reason to request the establishment of post offices for their convenience. John Hughes was instrumental in securing that service for the Tamarac settlement and was named the first post master, when the new "Tamarac Post Office" was established in April 1879.

In the summer, the girls amused themselves, when they had time, by boating on the Tamarac. How Mary Ann learned to swim, on one of those occasions, is an example of the determination and  perseverance that were so characteristic of her. She, her step-sister Mary Whalen, and one of the other girls were out on the river when the boat capsized. None of the girls could swim, as girls just didn't in those days, but Mary Ann, faced with the necessity of self preservation, learned in a hurry. She not only swam to the shore, but also, upon looking back and seeing her two companions still clinging to the boat, swam back out and back and seeing her two companions still clinging to the boat, swam back out and brought them both in, one at a time - a total of five times the distance from the boat to the shore.

On June 21, 1879, Mary Ann reached her sixteenth birthday. By that time there was much talk along the Tamarac about the need for a school, as the children had been a whole year without instruction. The section house had become a sort of community center where the men met whenever they had a problem to discuss. Getting a school district organized was a first priority. Mary Ann, probably encouraged by her father, decided to try to qualify as a teacher, so as to be ready to take charge when and if she should be needed. This she did, receiving her certificate to teach from the wife of Superintendent of Schools of the the southern part of the state that summer, as there were as yet no schools for him to supervise in Marshall County As soon as the farm work was done, the men of the new communities in the county began meeting to organize school districts. There was quite a bit of rivalry among them, each settlement trying to be the first to quality. Tamarac (later StephenMinnesota) Louisa (later Argyle) and Farley (later Warren )were all in competition. Tamarac won out, by completing the requirements for organizing a school district on December 23, 1879. The first Mass was held at the Section House. Later that winter, after the new year arrived, in 1880, the first session of school in Marshall County convened in the main room of the Section House, with Mary AnnHughes as second six week term of school was held in a new hotel, called "the had been built on the north side of the Tamarac River. Mary Ann, again, was the teacher.

The pupils enrolled in the first class were: John Hughes Jr.; Mary Whalen; James and JuliaBills, children of Morgan Bills;Bert and Minnie Blivens, children of Joe Blivens; andGeorge McCullough, son of Mike McCullough.Mike, also known as "Tamarac Mack",had been the first white settler in the county, when he came over from the Dakota Territory in 1871.

A new, one-roomed school was built near the section house, during 1880. A Miss Kery Rogers,taught the first term in that building, in the winter of 1880-81.

Mary Ann continued to teach in the pioneer schools for 12 years, first around the Tamarac and later in outlying rural years, first around the Tamarac and later in outlying rural the formation of additional school districts. Sometimes she had schools as the continued influx of settlers to the area required as many as 58 pupils, at other times, as few as two. The great variation in school attendance was due to the demands of farm work at different seasons. In winter when field work was at a standstill, young men and women in their late teens and early twenties joined their younger brothers and sisters in the class - room. By contrast, during the summer, only those too young to work on the farms went to school

The variety in ages among her pupils must have challenged Mary Ann's ability as a teacher. Her pupils were sometimes older Mary Ann's. Her pupilsespically the young men were sometimespresented special problems. Some of them chewed tobacco and were loathe to discontinue the practice in school. Mary Ann, never one to make a mountain out of a molehill, solved that problem by seating them near the low windows where they could expectorate outside instead of contaminating the schoolroom.

In the spring of 1883, Mary Annwas again teaching at the Tamarac School. She finished a term for a teacher from Crookston who had become ill. In 1884, she taught in a new rural school in the second teacher to teach in that district. The first having been a girl named Julia Isaacsonwho, like Mary Ann, had taught the first term in a room in her father's house before a school was built.

In 1885,Mary Ann attended a session of teacher training at theSt. Cloud Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota. Her records there indicate that she was a very well-behaved student, as she earned a grade point of 100 in deportment.

The winter of 1886-87 found Mary Ann again teaching at the Tamarac School (now in the incorporated village of Stephen). She served a three month term as assistant teacher, workingunder a Dr.J. R.Finney. While she was preparing to teach that term, there was a double wedding in the Whalen - Hughes family, there was a double wedding in the Whalen - Hughes family. Her sister, KateHughes married Pierce Sinnott and her step-brother, Will Whalen,married Pierce's sister, Annie Sinnott,who had been living with Pierce since her arrival from Ireland several years before

Another school whereMary Ann taught was in District 22 in in Sinnott Township. Some of her older pupils in that school had a" skip day" one beautiful spring day. During the recess the boys, ages 14 to 20+, decided to go into town. Not caring to walk, the mile or two into Stephen, they decided to get a ride; so they piled ties on the railroad track to stop the train, climbed into an empty car while the engineer was clearing the track and rode what had happened until school reconvened after the noon hour The next day an irate roadmaster knocked at the school house door. To the slight teenager who answered his knock, he said curtly, "Little girl, I want to see the teacher."Drawing herself up to her full height of five feet two inches the "little girl"replied, with a twinkle in her blue eyes,"Sir, I am the teacher."Completely taken aback, the astonished man blurted out,"Hell, Lady! And I though I had problems!!" Then, after a moment's reflection, "Send the boys out to the woodshed, Ma'am. I want to have a talk with them." There he lectured the culprits and administered I want to have a talk with them." There he lectured the culprits and administered whatever discipline he thought necessary. Thus did one of the early "skip days" come to an end.

During the latter 1880's, Mary Ann taught in the Donaldson area. These were six month terms of school - quite an advance from the first terms which were usually two or three months duration. The Davis School, two miles east of the village, was one place where she taught. She also taught two terms during 1889-90, at a school on what was then the Perault Farm, later the Grose family who lived one and one-half miles from the school. Twelve year old Fred Grose was one of the pupils in the first grade, or First Reader, that year. In those years when schools were in session for so few months of the year, it was not uncommon for children of that age to be"in the First Reader". There were 22 children in the school at that time.

One summer, in 1890 or '91, Mary Ann had only two pupils, a girl named MaryOzmanand a boy namedRosslyn (Rossie)McCullough.Mary Ann drove a white pony, named"Princess", to school in those days.

The bride wore a dress of tan cashmere, trimmed in satin of the same color. It was styled in the fashion of the day, with a high neckline. The collar, held up by whale bone stays, rose out of a satin yoke. The long sleeves, of the cashmere material, were puffed at the top but closely fitted below the elbow and cuffed or edged in satin. They closed with many small buttons. Similar buttons fastened the dress, from the high neck through the tightly-fitted waistline (held in place by more and larger whale bone stays). The slim, full-length skirt was also of cashmere. Over it was a puffed over-skirt with a bustle in back.

After the wedding, the newly-weds, and the groom's foster son, Rossie McCullough, then a boy of 12 years, lived first in the little house on Johnny's farm on the northeast quarter of the little house on Johnny's farm on the northeast quarter of sectiion 8 in Sinnott Township.

In the spring, Johnny askedMary Ann if she would be willing to move over to his other land on the northwest quarter of the same section, where he wanted to build up a new set of buildings Her answer was typical of the pioneer women. She said, "I'll go wherever there's wood and water, Johnny." So a new house was built and a pair of barns providing separate shelter for cattle and horses, as was common in those days

Johnny had previously planted a grove of trees on that land, as required in "proving up" on a tree claim. He loved to work with trees and shrubs and had planted new varieties of fruit trees and many kinds of berries. He also transplanted some blue flag (iris) from the east farm, to start a flower garden for Mary
 

STELLAR COMPUTER CONSULTING
HAVRE, MONTANA
            JOHNNY  MARSHALL COUNTIES 1ST TEACHER
WHALEN INDEX