Mary Ann Whalen Was Only 16 When She Taughtounty's First School Term in Railroad Section House

(Editors Note: The following story was written by a granddaughter of Marshall County's first school teacher. The author is the daughter of James A. Whalen and the late Mrs.(Maysie) Whalen.. Part of the story is taken from an article in The Stephen Messenger edition of Aug. 11, 1938. Mrs. Garfield (Gladys Lincoln) Nichols assisted with the newspaper releases.)

"Miss Mary AnnHughes " Marshall County's first teacher, was born at Waukasha, Wi.., June 21, 1863. Herparents, John and Mary(Mc Neely) Hughes, were among the many Irish immigrants who came to this country in 1846, the year of the great potato famine in Ireland. They first settled in Michigan but later moved to Wisconsin. Mr. Hughes was a farmer. Mary Ann, herolder sister, Kate and two brothers Johnand Jim, were left motherless when they were very young. Their father  was later married to Mrs.CatherineWhelan of Hudson, Wisconsin, a widow with five young children. They were Maggie,John,Will, Jim and Mary.

In the spring of 1878, the Hughes-Whelan family decided to move to Minnesota and take up homesteads in the rich farm land available in the Red River Valley.Loading their possesions into three horse-drawn covered wagons they left Wisconsin and followed trails left by the Indians and settlers who proceeded them They reached the Tamarac River on May 15 1878 and decided to join the Mc Cullough's, Browns, and Whitneys who had already settled there. At that time, the railroad ran no further than Crookston, but the right of way had been graded and indicatons were it would be completed soon.

John Hughes homesteaded east of Stephen. Two of his step-sons, John and Will Whalen, went to work for the railroad. John worked until the St. Paul, Minneaplois and Manitoba line (Later the Great Northern) joined the Canadian Pacific line until it was 800 miles north of Winnipeg (then Fort Gary.)

Miss Hughes and her sister, Kate, did not accompany their family to Marshall County in the spring, but came on the train after the railroad was completed in the fall. The Hughes sisters arrived in Stephen on the firsttrain to stop there. At that time there was no depot and the train was not scheduled to stop but the cook was out of baking soda and the girls probably informed him that :papa" kept a few necessities at the section house which the family now occupied.(Incedentally he was also serving as postmaster of what was then known as Tamarac P.O.). Anyway the ladies were spared the inconvience of going beyond their destination and waiting for someone to bring them back with a team of horses and wagon.
 

School district number one in Marshall County was organized Dec. 23, 1879 at Stephen. Alfred Diamond, John Hughes and William S. Campbell comprised the first board of directors. Miss Mary Ann Hughes, later Mrs. John Whalen was the first school teacher. Mr. J.M. Brown was the first county super -intendent but in the spring of 1880 he was teaching school in the southern part of the state. His salary was only $75 a year and it seems he was not required to devote all of his time to his office. For that reason Miss Hughes secured her license to teach from Mrs. Brown whom she found at the home  of her parents on the Whitney farm, southeast of Stephen.

School opened after the winter holidays in a room in the railroad section house, just south of the Tamarac River, and continued for a term of six weeks.  During the follwing summer, a second term  was taught by Miss Hughes.

The pupils enrolled in the school at that time included John Hughesr., a son of John Hughes, Mary Whalen, a stepdaughter of John Hughes, James and Julia Bills, children Morgan Bills, Bert and Minnie Blivins, children of Joe Blivins, and George
Mc Colough (some spelled Mc Collar)

A schoolhouse was built in 1880, south of the river, and in the spring of 1882 finished a term for a teacher who became ill. She taught a three month term in the winter of 1886 -1887 as assistant to J.R. Finney who had  a number of other irons in the fire being editor of the paper and a practicing physicain.

Miss Hughes also taught several terms in rural schools of the surrounding area. She had as many as 58 pupils and as few as two. During the winter when the farm work was slack, young people in their teens, mostly boys, joined their younger brothers and sisters in the classroom. The variaties of ages must of taxed her abilities as a teacher

These older puils espically the young men someties presented problems. Some of the older boys chewed tobacco and Miss Hughes solved that problem by seating them next to the low windows so they could expectorate out the window without contaminating the schoolroom

"Skip Day", so dear to our modern senoirs, may have its origins in pioneer schools. When Miss Hughes waas teaching noth of Stephen in Dist. 22, better knwon as the Sinnott school, some ofthe older pupils decided to skip school. On a beautiful spring dy the boys. aged 14 - 25, decided to go into town. Not caring to walk trhy decided to get a ride. They piled ties on thr railroad track near the school and when the train stopped they climbed into an empty car while an enraged engineer was clearing the track. The students then rode into town. Miss Hughes discovered what happened when school convened after noon hour

The next day an irate kocked at the schoolhouse door. To the slght teenager who answered his nock he said curtly "Little girl I'm here to see the teacher." Drawing heersef up to her full five fett two, the "little girl" replied witha twinkle inher eye, "Sir, Iam the teacher". Competley taken aback the astonished man blunted out, "hell lady, and I though I had problems" The after amoments reflection, he said "Sen the boys out to the woodshed, ma'am I want to talk to them." There he lectured the culprits and administered whatever didciline he though necessary. Thus did one early "skip day" come to a close.

During the later 180's Miss Hughes taught in the Donaldson area. The Davis school, 2 miles east of the village is one of the places she taught.  She also taught two terms during 1889 ans 1890 at a school  what is now the Norman Bogsted farm. (at that time it was the Perault farm. These were six months of school, quite an advance from the first tems which were usually two or three months in duration.. She borded with the Grose family, who live 1 & 1/2 miles from the school. One of her first grade (or First Reader)  pupils wass 12 year old Fred Grose.  ( In those days when school when schools weere in session for so few months of the year it was not uncommon for for childen of that ageto be in the First Reader) Mr. Grose who now lives in Karlstad said there were 22 pupils in the school at that time. They were from the Waldiing family, two boys and one girl; from the Fling family, two girls and one boy; 1 Bakke girl; three girls ans one boy from the Dagen family;  one Thompson girl; two Parault; two girls of the Linberg family and one Erickson girl.

Another of Miss Hughes former pupils, Rosslyn Mc Collough, (who nowlives in Deluth and writes his name Mc Collar), recalls that he went to school to Miss Hughes for two or three summers. One of these summers (in 1890 -91 or 92) he and a girl named Mary Ozman were the only pupils in the school. He also remembers that drove a white horse pony named Princess to school in those days.ll along the railroad right-of-way to townll along the railroad right-of-way to town

In February,, 1892, Mis Hughes left the teaching proffesion to become the bride of John Whalen. They were married in Stephen at her home which was upstairs over her fathers drugstore. Rev. Walsh officiated at the ceramony attendants were Miss Maggie Whalen and William Russsell. There had been an early spring thaw that year so relatives comming to the wedding from north of Stephen had to drive through water a
 

Among the wedding guests was Miss Hughes' former pupil, young Rosslyn Mc Collough. He was the groom's foster son, aged 12 years. Young Rossie, as he was called, had lost his mother when he was four years old.. Because his father was unable to care for his motherless family, neighbors helped out by taking a child or two to raise along with their own families. Bachelor John Whalen and his sister Maggie, who, kept house for him, had offered to take little Rossie. When Miss Hughes  became Mrs. Whalen she took over the responsability of mothering her husband's foster son.He lived with the Whalens until he was a young man of 19.

 Mr. and Mrs. Whalen made their home on the NW 1/4 of Section 8 in Sinnott Township. They had five sons (two of whom died in infancy) and five daughters. After raising their own family, they adopted another daughter, Irene

So the pioneer teacher exchanged her role for that of pioneer wifeand mother. Her interest in education continued, however.  Her foster son, Rossie McCollough, completed his education in Stephen where heattended school for three winters.  (He says he rode to school on Princess, the white pony).  She taught her first son to read before he started school and encouraged all of her children to attend school as long as possible.  Her husband, John Whalen, served on the school  board of District No. 97 near his home for 40 years and on the school board of District No. 1 in Stephen for several years after they retired and moved into town in 1935.  They boarded the teacher of the District 97 school for many years while their children and grandchildren attended classes there.( It was known as the Whalen school because Miss Maggie Whalen donated the land on which it was built.  At least one of their daughters, a daughter-in- law and several nieces  all taught in that school. )  Of their five daughters, four were teachers as are ( or were ) 9 or 10 of their 48 grandchildren.  Their youngest granddaughter, Miss Colette Whalen, is a member of the 196
graduating class of Stephen High School.

Both Mr. and Mrs. John Whalen passed away in the fall of 1944, and are buried in St. Stephen's Cemetery east of Stephen.  Two of their sons, James A. and William Hughes Whalen, still reside in the Stephen community.

Marshall  County's first school teacher's other children include: Luke A. Whalen of Boulder City, Nevada, Mrs. Lewis ( Catherine ) Moldenhour of  Seattle, Washington,  Mrs. Alex ( Frances ) McCallum of Long Beach, California,  Mrs. C. F. ( Leonora ) Kirkpatrick of Wolf Point, Montana,  Mrs. Fred ( Alice ) Nichols of Winona,  Mrs. J. Howard ( Margaret ) Mc Glynn of Grand Forks,  and Mrs. Paul ( Irene ) LeBlanc of Grafton
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