by Mary Cory, originally published in 6 parts, 2022-2024

Mary Cory is the curator of the El Dorado County Museum and has a tangible passion for history and all things El Dorado County.

There are so many true stories to tell from El Dorado County’s history. Some of these stories are familiar and have been kept alive by their retelling, such as Wheelbarrow Johnny’s experience building wheelbarrows in Placerville, or Snowshoe Thompson’s epic journeys every winter delivering the mail. However, there are many stories that don’t get regularly told. The El Dorado County Historical Museum exhibit was an opportunity to tell some of those true stories. This special exhibit was installed at the County Museum in June 2019 after months of research and preparation. It was by far our most ambitious exhibit at the County Museum. Even though, as all temporary exhibits must, it was changed out for another exhibit in 2022, parts of the original can still be seen in other permanent exhibits at the County Museum.

After spending time with the County Museum’s incredible collection of digitized historical photographs, over 200 photographs were selected that depicted women in El Dorado County from about 1850 to 1975. The photographs record a special time – showing women working, playing, taking care of their families, and commemorating big events. These photographs date from the periods of time when the act of taking a photograph was an event in itself. We have become so used to quickly snapping thousands of digital photos with our phones, which can be scrolled through with the touch of a finger. Historical photographs were taken with much more deliberation, framed and hung on the wall, kept in photograph albums or shoe boxes, and looked at as a part of passing down family stories. Part of appreciating the past is to ask questions about each photograph itself. Why was it taken? Who was the photographer? What do we know about the people in the photograph? Where did they live? What are they doing?

These questions led to the exhibit and a desire to capture the history of some of the women that lived in El Dorado County. After examining the Museum’s collection of artifacts, textiles, and historical photographs, we highlighted the stories of five El Dorado County women. Many women’s stories don’t make it into the history books. We hoped that this exhibit would help bring some of those stories, big and small, to the surface. We dedicated this exhibit to the many women in the County’s past who met the demands of their times, sometimes pushing boundaries and inspiring us to face the challenges of today.

Margaret Kelly with one of her many classes circa 1907

Stella Tracy as a young girl.

Lulu Weatherwax (circled) enjoying time socializing.

Margaret Kelley

Educator

Margaret Kelley was an educator for over 50 years who touched the lives of many students as a teacher and principal. In most of El Dorado County, a teacher was in charge of a one-room schoolhouse with students ranging from first to eighth grades. According to the law, when there were six eligible students in a region, a school should be established and a teacher hired. The teacher might have training from a “normal” school (a training college for teachers) and would board during the school week with the family of one of their students.

Margaret Kelley, seen below, was
a teacher and school principal for over 50 years. Margaret was also a good friend to James Marshall,
the “discoverer of gold.” In 1921, she opened the first Museum in El Dorado County at the site of James Marshall’s blacksmith shop in Kelsey, dedicated to the Gold Rush and James Marshall.

Stella Tracy

Philanthropist

Margaret Kelley in front of the museum she founded in Kelsey, 1921

Stella Ralston Tracy was a prominent figure in Placerville Society and was interested in the preservation of county history. Her parents were “well-to- do”, and Stella grew up in Placerville – attending musicales, participating in local theatre productions, and accompanying her mother, who was a professional musician and singer, on tour. Stella graduated from San Jose State College in 1895, and taught school for 8 years.

She married Perry Tracy, co- owner of Tracy Shoe Store, and settled into a fine house with many furnishings provided by their parents. Perry Tracy and his brother owned and operated the Tracy Shoe Store on Main Street. Started by their father, the Tracy building now houses the Heyday Cafe.

Stella and Perry’s home was demolished in the early 1950s, along with many others on Union
Street, to make way for Highway 50. Stella, by then a widow, moved to a smaller house on Coloma Street where she resided until her death, surrounded by her many antiques and relics of Placerville’s past.

Several of her dresses, furnishings from her home, and her musical instruments, including the guitar pictured above, are on display at the El Dorado County Museum exhibit . Stella remained

interested in the county’s history all her life. She was an active member of the El Dorado County Historical Society, a prominent member of the Shakespeare Club, and upon her death in 1968, she left college scholarships for students graduating from El Dorado County High Schools. She left her home on Coloma Street and its contents to the El Dorado County Historical Society.

Stella Tracy holding the guitar in her parlor on Union Street.

Lulu Weatherwax

Artist

Lulu Weatherwax was the only child of Charles and Sarah Weatherwax, born in Placerville in 1873, three years after her parents were married. Like Stella, she grew up in one of the fine homes in Placerville, located at the corner of Bedford and Coleman St, where the house still stands today. She never married and continued to live with her parents, staying in the house until 1945. Lulu then moved to San Francisco, where she died in 1950 at the age of 77.

In her obituary, Lulu is described as “a ceramist and painter.” Several examples of her oil paintings and painted china are on display at the El Dorado County Historical Museum. She submitted
her work to the Pan Pacific Exposition in San

Francisco in 1915, winning a ribbon. In her 20s and 30s she advertised her painted china in the Mt. Democrat and she is remembered as having one of the first kilns in Placerville.

China painting was a late 19th and early 20th
century pastime, livelihood and art for many
American women. Most of the work was done
by the overglaze process, which involved painting a previously fired hard- china blank, and then refiring it, making the painted design a permanent decoration. China painting was so popular that importers sold a wide variety of blanks, and advertised “the best of all the new shapes in French and German china.” The paints themselves became widely available

and could be purchased in shops in Placerville. Instruction books helped disseminate information on china painting techniques and processes to

Lulu’s artist signature

enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what the inspiration for Lulu’s artistic expression was, as there is nothing known in her own words. Her work was probably given as gifts to friends and family, and she entered pieces into competitions. Her studio was a familiar

place to many art lovers in Placerville, as was stated in her obituary, published in the Mountain Democrat in 1950. Her signature is a simple “LW” on the underside of a plate or vase.

With only the bare outlines of Lulu’s life known to us now, her art is what we now have to remember her by.

*All photos courtesy of the El Dorado County History Museum.

Part Two: Women Making History Part Two, Around Here Magazine, Winter 2023

by Mary Cory

Sarah Ingham (1826-1898)

Quilter

Sarah and her husband moved to Placerville in the 1850s. Sarah’s husband, George Ingham became
a County Judge and later Justice of the California Supreme Court. Their daughter Albina, known as Bine, learned the newspaper business at the Mountain Democrat, and was eventually named publisher, a position she held until her death. (Bine’s story will be told in another installment!)

We don’t know very much about Sarah Ingham. However, the beautiful crazy quilt that she created is an example of an artifact that can help us better understand the times she lived in. The quilt is displayed on the Museum’s 1878 walnut bed from a home in Indian Diggings. Made from scraps of silks and velvets held together with decorative hand embroidery, crazy quilts were a very popular textile craft of the 1880s and 1890s. Sarah incorporated silk ribbons about local groups
and event into the quilt, including this one celebrating the completion of the Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad to Placerville in 1888!

Silk ribbon showcasing the & Sacramento Railroad.

Crazy quilt created by Sarah Ingham on display at the El Dorado County Historical Museum.

Lucinda Nail (1859-1909)

Seamstress

Georgia Nail Leoni (1885-1975)
born six months after the death of her father. Her mother, and her sister Hattie alone as a dressmaker in Grizzly Flats. In 1910 Georgia married Stephen Grizzly Flats. Together, they operated the ranch and drove their cattle seasonally between the Mountain Meadow Ranch in Grizzly Flats and Clay Station in the western part of the county for winter grazing. Stephen died in 1927 and Georgia continued to live at the Mountain Meadow Meadows) until 1941. She walked the three miles to Grizzly Flats to get her mail, and when she needed to go to Placerville, she drove an automobile. However, she only knew how
to put the car into second gear, so she drove all the way to Placerville in second!

Georgia did all her own chores like chopping wood, hunting for food, growing and

life in the Somerset and Grizzly Flats area. Her parents owned the toll ford/bridge on the middle fork of the Cosummes River married George Nail who was the superintendent of a mine in Grizzly Flat and was drowned at Bucks Bar trying to ford the rising her second child at that time.
To support herself and her two a seamstress and became a well- known dressmaker. She owned property and made a good living as a dressmaker raising her two daughters by herself.

Sewing and needlework were important skills for women to know. Treadle sewing machines after the Civil War and most women had basic sewing skills in order to make clothing, quilts, and other household textiles for their families. However, some able to make a living sewing the complicated and fashionable dresses for women in the community.

embroidered a Crazy Quilt Pillow on display in the Museum’s Bedroom exhibit. The pillow
is hand stitched, made with silks and velvets and has silk embroidery embellishments.

preserving fruits, vegetables and meats, and she helped with the dairy animals, making the butter that they provided to restaurants and the Caldor logging camps. Georgia used an outdoor kitchen as much as possible because the heat was so extreme in the kitchen. The story is that her from the heat so she had a fainting couch placed there!

After 1941, Georgia moved to her mother’s home in Grizzly Flats. Known by many as “Georgie” she was an active member of the community. Although she never had children of her own, she loved children and was member of the local school board. She and Stephen were very hospitable people and hosted many parties and events.

Mary Cory is the curator of the El Dorado County Museum and has a tangible passion for history and all things El Dorado County.

Part Three: WOMEN OF INFLUENCE – IN TRANSPORTATION, Around Here Magazine, Spring 2024

This continuing series “Women of Influence” is about women who made history in El Dorado County, and is based on an exhibit at the El Dorado County Historical Museum incorporating historical photographs and artifacts from the Museum’s collections.   This 3^rd installment is about women involved with transportation.

Road Houses and hotels sprang up along wagon roads as soon as there were travelers looking for a bed and a meal.  Women became inn keepers, a good job from the beginning of the Gold Rush, and continued through the twentieth century, with road houses, hotels, resorts providing travelers with a meal, a place to spend the night, and traveling supplies.  The resorts became destinations themselves, taking advantage of El Dorado County’s recreational opportunities.  

Annie Spriggs (1871-1970) was the well-known and beloved owner of a resort called Fred’s Place on the Placerville-Tahoe Road from 1918 to 1951.  

Annie was born in 1871, the daughter of white woman and her father was a native of Tahiti.  Orphaned at the age of 2, she was raised by her mother’s family in Chicago.  She moved to California with her first husband and after his death, Annie lived in Oakland and worked for the Key transit system as a stewardess for the railroad and then the San Francisco Bay Ferries.  Annie survived the 1906 earthquake and fires, and then in 1918, she married Fred Spriggs and moved to El Dorado County where she resided for 63 years.  

In the year she married Fred, Annie  secured leases from the US Forest Service for land along Highway 50, 25 miles east of Placerville  and just east of Kyburz.  She immediately set up two tents and began serving refreshments like soda, water and sandwiches and selling supplies.  

Fred Spriggs was one of the first drivers on the old Richardson Automobile Stage route from Placerville to Lake Tahoe.  He worked in several of the resorts at Tahoe and cut ice during the winter for use during the summer at many of the resorts along the American River.

Annie used her savings to build the resort from the ground up, and it became a major stop in the area for the automobile stage, and for tourists, and vacationers.  Eventually, she added a swimming pool and cabins. Folks came year after year to fish or swim and to picnic.  Fred’s Place was a favorite resort for visitors and locals alike with Annie as business manager and Fred as the genial host.

Annie and Fred had no children of their own but raised five orphaned boys, two of whom died in World War II.  She was known as “Mom” by many including her five sons and many of the girls employed by her at the resort, a name that stayed with her until her death.

After Fred died, Annie continued to run the resort, retiring at the age of 80.  She moved to Placerville where she lived until her death.  Her home was decorated with her own handiwork, embroidered and crochet, antique china, crystal, ornaments and pictures, and was always filled with friends.  

Fred’s Place was demolished in the 1960s when Highway 50 was being improved.  The name has stuck even though the resort is no longer there.  Fred’s Place shows up on Google Maps, and several years ago, it gave the name to a wild fire in the area. 

Sierra Nevada Phillips (1854-1921) was known as “Vade.”  She developed the Rubicon Mineral Springs Resort, the Meeks Bay Tenting Camp, and the Phillips Resort. 

Vade’s parents, JWD & Mehitable Phillips, first developed Phillip’s Station as a road house along the great “Bonanza” Road (Placerville-Virginia City Wagon Road) and named their daughter after the mountain range they called home.  Vade’s mother, an excellent cook, taught her to cook, a skill that came in handy as an adult. 

In 1884, Vade bought the Rubicon Resort and Springs in a wild, remote area.  All supplies were brought in by pack mules from Lake Tahoe.  She rebuilt the Resort and renamed it the Rubicon Mineral Springs and Resort, and it became a popular “spa” resort.  She convinced El Dorado County to build a road to the Resort, which is now known as the Rubicon Trail.

In 1890, she sold the Rubicon Mineral Springs and Resort and moved to Meeks Bay on Lake Tahoe where she operated a large hall, adding a dairy, laundry, and tents to accommodate tourists.

Later that same year, she rebuilt her childhood home at Phillips Station creating a full-fledged resort with cabins, general store, lounge, and campground.  The resort had families return year after year.  Without refrigeration, an icehouse by the river kept fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, butter, and cheese cold.  

Vade opened post offices at these different resorts, and served as Postmistress.  When she  requested Phillips as a Post Office for the Phillips Resort, the name was already taken.  The US Postal Service selected her nickname, and so it was called “Vade.”  Phillips is still the location for measuring snowfall.  Vade married twice and had two children, Mehitable, known as Hettie, and Alice.  Vade was known throughout the Sierra as Mrs. Hospitality.

Sarah Fossati (1866-1947) operated the Three-Mile House, also known as Smith Flat House, a road house along the Placerville-Tahoe Wagon Road.

Sarah’s family homesteaded land two miles from Smith Flat and built the “Old Stone House” which is now part of Boeger Winery.  Her family were farmers raising vegetables and fruits.  Eventually they had a small vineyard which made sacramental wine for the Catholic Church.

Sarah left school after the 3^rd grade but her father continued to tutor her and she became quite accomplished for a young woman of her time.  She spoke 5 languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, and later, Chinese.

When she married Nicoli Fossati, 11 years her senior, she was expected to take over all the duties of running the Smith Flat House.  The two-story Smith Flat House had on its first floor, a general store, saloon, card room, post office, and family living quarters.  The second floor consisted of 11 rooms for boarders, a large dance hall and an auditorium which served as a community center for events.  Sarah was an excellent cook, tended the post office, ran the general store and her gardens with the help of one woman.  She was also the bookkeeper of the entire operation.  However, Sarah refused to take care of the card room or saloon because when one of the children was sick and the doctor came, he stopped off at the saloon and when he saw the child,  he was so drunk he didn’t know what he was doing and the child died,  

Sarah was an excellent tutor.  When a young man named John Lagomarsino arrived from Italy and needed help with his in English and Math, she tutored him.  He later helped found the Bank of Italy, later known as the Bank of America.

Sarah lived her entire life in Smith Flat making occasional trips to Placerville.  She had an excellent memory and recall to which people were always asking her about the past.  Smith Flat House has been restored and continues to be a welcome stopping place along Highway 50, bringing back memories of the importance of these road houses, and the people who ran them, such as Sarah and her family. 

In the early 20^th century, automobiles were gaining in popularity, with several local dealerships getting established.  According to a Mountain Democrat newspaper article published in 1961, Emma Crocker Bosquist (1892-1985) was the first woman to own an automobile in the county.  

Born in Placerville of pioneer parents who owned Crocker Brothers General Store on Broadway, Emma purchased a one cylinder REO in 1908, and taught herself to drive when a sophomore in High School, by studying the instruction manual that came with the car and practicing in her backyard, the old Hughes place on Broadway.

Elma married Owen Bosquit in 1911 who was the son of Sheriff Archibald Bosquit. When Elma and Owen married, they slipped away from the city without telling anyone and were married in Sacramento.  They had been childhood sweethearts who met again at the University and became betrothed.  They told no one they were getting married and where they were to honeymoon.  However, his father died in 1911, the very year they were married and perhaps they thought it would be unseemly to have a big wedding.  Emma worked as a bookkeeper and was a member of the First Church of Christ Scientist of Placerville

Stagecoach travel was an important mode of transportation in El Dorado County during the second half of the 1800s.  Stage routes were established between towns, carrying passengers, mail, gold and other goods.  A famous stagecoach driver, also known as a “whip” was Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879).  She was well-known and respected, driving stages all over California.  She lived her adult life as a man, even voting in the 1868 Presidential election many years before the 19^th Constitutional Amendment allowed women to vote in 1920.  It wasn’t until she died that it was discovered that Charley was in fact, a woman, born Charlotte Parkhurst in Vermont.  She came to California as an experienced stagecoach driver in 1849.

When the automobile industry was new, some manufacturers marketed to women.  The Maxwell Company, later to become Chrysler, sponsored Alice Ramsey on a cross country automobile trip in 1909.  Alice later wrote a memoir about her trip from New York City to San Francisco, called “Veil, Duster and Tire Iron.”  Another memoir written in 1915 by Effie Gladding Price as a travelogue called “Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway” described the automobile trip that she and her husband took on this new highway.  The Lincoln Highway Association founded in 1912 to encourage better roads, was the first coast-to-coast automobile road in the United States.  Both Alice and Effie describe traveling through El Dorado County and the challenge of achieving Echo Summit, as well as noting the spectacular views they saw.

Gertrude Kirk (1889-1974) mentioned in a previous installment, helped out at her father’s Ford dealership in Placerville, and even taught brand new automobile owners how to drive.  She owned the Dodge Brothers dealership on Placerville’s Main Street, and drove a brand new 1919 Dodge Touring Car from Detroit to Placerville on the new Lincoln Highway.  

The El Dorado County Historical Museum’s newest exhibit is Wagon Road to Highway 50, highlighting the history of what is now the Highway 50 corridor in El Dorado County.  First an original route into California for the “49ers, then the “Bonanza” Road carrying freight and people to the Virginia City Comstock Lode.  The Pony Express used the road to deliver mail between Washington, DC and Sacramento, and it became California State Route #1 in 1898.  After that, it was the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway, before being designated as US Highway 50.  You can visit the County Museum free to learn more about El Dorado County’s history, located at 104 Placerville Drive,Wednesday – Sunday, 12PM – 4PM.  For research, email your question to museum@edcgov.us.  The County Museum’s website is www.edcgov.us/government/museum.

Part Four: THE NEWSPAPER WOMEN OF EL DORADO COUNTY, Around Here Magazine – summer 2023

…as part of the continuing series about women who played a part in the history of El Dorado County, these El Dorado County women were involved with the newspaper business.

 The Georgetown Gazette was founded by Horace W. Hulbert in April 1880.  The paper was published by the Hulbert family from their home, then merged with the Mountain Democrat and ceased publication in 1922, briefly starting back up 1935 – 1937.  It was reactivated in 1972 and continues to be printed today. 

Three generations of women produced the weekly Georgetown Gazette starting in 1880. Celia Welleford Hulbert (1855-1896) worked alongside her husband Horace, to produce the paper every week.  She had learned the business from Horace while publishing several other newspapers around Northern California before arriving in Georgetown.  The first issue of the Georgetown Gazette was printed April 9, 1880.  Then in 1886 Horace turned the publishing business over to Celia, while he spent most of his time at his mine called the Bright Hope.  Horace wrote that he had “turned the Gazette over to our better half who will…ask only one day of our time each week to make up and do press work.”

 Celia and Horace’s oldest daughter, Maude Hulbert Horn (1875-1935) learned the newspaper business from her parents as a girl, and then spent most of her life working on it as manager, editor, then owner.  Maude said she grew up “with printer’s ink in her veins.”  Maude was made editor of the Georgetown Gazette in 1891 at the age of 16.  In 1898 Maude married Jack Horn, the Georgetown Gazette’s type setter.  At the time, the Sacramento Bee reported “the bride, who has for several years had charge of the management of the Georgetown Gazette, is one of the brightest newspaper women in California.  She has displayed considerable ability as a writer and shrewdness in business affairs.”

Maude belonged to many organizations where she gathered news and socialized with friends. During World War I (1917-18) she directed Red Cross public health and relief efforts. Following World War I Maude attended the League of Nations meeting as an honorary delegate. She joined the Daughters of the American Revolution, was one of the first women to serve as a juror in a County Superior Court trial, and in 1930 was appointed the first woman Justice of the Peace in Georgetown, serving three years. Maude was a newspaper editor at a time when there were less than 50 recognized women editors in California.

Along with being in responsible for producing the weekly Georgetown Gazette, Maude and Jack had four children to care for and she was responsible for running their home, as well as being the Gazette’s business manager.

Maude ceased publishing the Georgetown Gazette in 1922 due to economic difficulties, eventually selling off the equipment and subscription list.  Following in the footsteps of her parents and grandparents, Maude and Jack’s daughter, Amy Horn Drysdale (1899-1985) learned the newspaper business at her mother’s knee.  After Amy moved back to Georgetown in the early 1930s, Maude taught Amy to be a journalist.  Amy wrote for the Sacramento Bee, the Auburn Journal and the Mountain Democrat.  Amy decided to start up the Georgetown Gazette again in 1935 and was owner and publisher.  But due to economic difficulties, the paper folded two years later.  

In 1938, Amy was elected Justice of the Peace, an office previously held by her mother.  She served as Judge for the Georgetown Judicial District for 25 years.  Amy was an active member of the Friends of the Library and the El Dorado County Historical Society; and she worked on historical projects including the 1977 book, “I Remember.”

The Mountain Democrat states that it is the oldest newspaper, starting publication in 1851.  For many years, the paper was printed on Main Street, in a building now occupied by Placerville Hardware.  The presses were powered by Hangtown Creek, and the Mountain Democrat logo can still be seen on the door leading into the hardware store. During that time, two women, Bine Ingham and Mollie Carpenter, were involved in the production of the Mountain Democrat for many years, starting in 1880.  

Albina Ingham, always known as Bine, was born in 1856 in Illinois and moved to Coloma when she was a small girl with her parents George and Sarah.  Bine was raised in Coloma and rode a horse into Placerville daily to attend the prestigious Placerville Academy.  Her first job was learning telegraphy at the Coloma telegraph office when she was a teenager. 

At the aged of 24, Bine went to work for W.A. Selkirk, then owner of the Mountain Democrat, learning to set type for the newspaper.  According to Selkirk, the newspaper was an ailing paper when he took it over, managing to keep it alive with the help of Bine whom he described as the “lady printer, reporter, and businesswoman.”  Bine was also associated with Selkirk’s other paper, the Observer-Democrat which soon merged with the Mountain Democrat.  In 1888, Selkirk made Bine co-publisher and wrote of her promotion, “a year ago it was a serious question whether the old paper, so dear to the hearts of hundreds of our citizens, was to live and prosper or be discontinued…the secret of our new success is due more to Miss Bine V. Ingham than to any ten others…”

Bine loved her work and was known in business to have practical knowledge, good business judgment and wise discretion.  She was an honored member of California Press Association and was described by a contemporary as “true-blue” throughout the county in business and her personal life and known for her many acts of kindness.  “It was her nature to make life’s pathway easier for those whom she found making the grade with difficulty,” said Ted C. Atwood.  “Her native charity, benevolence and goodness of heart found expression countless times in very practical ways.”  

For many years Bine lodged with Mrs. C.H. Weatherwax and Miss Lulu Weatherwax in their home at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Conrad St.  According to her obituary, “Bine Ingham was always associated with the genial smile, the cheerful disposition, the readiness to indulge in some passing pleasantry or joke.”  Bine passed away in 1921 and is buried in the Placerville Union Cemetery.

Mollie Carpenter was the daughter of G. J. Carpenter, who purchased the Mountain Democrat from Selkirk in 1894, and Mollie began working there after she returned from the Boston Conservatory of Music.  

Born in Georgetown in 1863, Mollie moved with her family to Placerville as a small child. G.J. Carpenter was also Speaker of the Assembly, clerk of the Supreme Court, and a Railroad Commissioner.  For a time, they lived in Sacramento and San Francisco.  At age 9, Mollie was playing the organ in the Methodist church; by 12 she was singing in public and continued to sing with the Methodist Choir most of her life.  She attended public schools in Placerville and then high school at the Placerville Academy; later she taught piano at there.  In 1885 Mollie went east to attend Wellesley College and then the Boston Conservatory of Music.  One newspaper article stated that her devotion to family prevented her pursuit of music as a career.  However, it goes on to say that “she gave her beautiful voice to comfort the sorrowing.” 

Starting in 1902, Mollie was co-publisher of the Mountain Democrat, and then in 1905 her father presented the newspaper to Molly as a gift.  He continued to write editorials until his death in 1908. Mollie Carpenter and Bine Ingham published the paper jointly from 1910 to 1921.  After Bine’s unexpected death, Mollie remained editor of the Mountain Democrat until 1922, when she sold it and retired.  Mollie died a year later, two years after the passing of her friend and business partner, Bine Ingham.

Gertrude Kirk, who has appeared in these articles before for her other accomplishments, was also a Newspaper Woman, working as a journalist with her own byline.  She regularly contributed stories to the El Dorado Republican, which her father, W.S. Kirk, purchased in 1908.  In 1919 Gertrude joined the Women’s Service of the YMCA and was in France with the American Expeditionary Force working in the canteens where the United States military troops were waiting to be demobilized after the Armistice of World War I.  Gertrude wrote a series of articles describing her experiences overseas, which were published in the El Dorado Republican between February and November 1919.

Part Five: Women Who Taught, Around Here Magazine, fall 2023

WOMEN WHO TAUGHT IN EL DORADO COUNTY

…the fifth in the series about women who played a part in the history of El Dorado County, these four El Dorado County women were influential teachers.  

  One hundred years ago and more, teaching was considered an acceptable career for women, at a time when other career paths were mostly out of reach.  In rural El Dorado County, many teachers were in charge of a one-room schoolhouse with students ranging from first to eighth grades.  According to State law, when there were six eligible students in a region, a school could be established, a teacher hired, and a 3-person school board elected.  The teacher might have training from a “Normal” school, a training college for teachers, and might board during the school week with the family of one her students. 

The history of county schools, and the teachers who taught in them was collected in the book, The Mother Lode of Learning: one room schoolhouse in El Dorado County, published in 1990 by the El Dorado County Retired Teachers Association.  (The book is out-of-print, but available at the County Library.)

In the 2019 County Museum exhibit, “Women of Influence: women making history in El Dorado County,” we focused on four women educators.  Of course, there have been innumerable women in the history of the county who were (and are) educators.  This selection was made based upon the artifacts and photographs in the Museum’s collection and does not mean to represent the individual histories about every teacher who each has a compelling story to tell. 

 Margaret Kelley (1866-1943) was born in Kelsey in 1866 to Patrick and Susan Kelley and neighbors of James Marshall, the “Discoverer of Gold,” who was an influential figure in her life.  

Known as Maggie, she taught school in El Dorado County for 50 years.  She taught in Slatington, Mountain District, Greenwood, Kelsey, Placerville, Garden Valley, Latrobe, Camino, and Georgetown. Some families boasted that members of their families, to the third generation had been her pupils.  Many of her students gave her credit for whatever success they made later in life.

When Maggie was 48 and had been teaching for over 25 years, she ran for County Superintendent of Schools in 1914 but lost.  She continued teaching and served as Principal in several schools until her retirement.  

 Maggie was well-versed in the County’s history, and in 1921 created a museum dedicated to her good friend James Marshall and the pioneers of the Gold Rush.  She knew James Marshall when he was living in Kelsey, during the last 15 years of his life.  Much later, she wrote “I would have the younger generation know the great pioneer as a citizen of the community.”

 Maggie established the Marshall Museum on the foundation of his Blacksmith Shop in Kelsey.  The Museum held artifacts from the Gold Rush, Marshall’s personal tools and effects, his letters and early photographs.  She curated the collection and invited people to tour the museum for over 20 years.  Upon Maggie’s death in 1943, the Marshall Museum’s contents were turned over to the California State Parks by her heirs, brothers William and James Kelley.  She is buried in her beloved Kelsey, in the Kelsey Cemetery.

 Nellie Bosworth Dormody (1863-1953) was born in Placerville on Cedar Hill Farm and at age 16 she opened a private school in her parents’ parlor.  Nellie became a private tutor in Nevada and qualified for a teaching certificate there.  She returned to California, taught eight years at Salmon Falls, Green Valley, and Pilot Hill schools.  Then she taught at the Upper Placerville school with 61 students, first grade through ninth grade.  In 1891 Nellie married L. J. Dormody and raised three children.  While her husband engaged in mining and lumbering, she opened a private school and taught for 11 years.

Nellie was always involved in community affairs.  She was a trustee of Placerville Grammar School, treasurer of the Old Presbyterian Church, a member of County Council of Defense and sugar administrator during World War I.  She was involved with the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, Shakespeare Club, Agricultural Club, Christian Endeavor Society, and member of the El Dorado County Historical Society. 

Stella Ralston Tracy (1876-1968) was born and raised in Placerville.  She married Perry Tracy, co-owner of the Tracy Shoe Store in 1903 and lived in a fine home on Union Street.  Prior to her marriage, Stella taught school for eight years.  After graduating from the Folsom High School (El Dorado County’s high school had not yet been established) Stella went to college, an unusual experience for women at that time.  In 1895 she graduated from San Jose State Normal School, the predecessor to San Jose State University, and came back to El Dorado County where she taught in one-room schoolhouses until her marriage.

 Stella was a founding member of the El Dorado County Historical Society in 1938, and when she died in 1968, she left to the Society the contents of her house which included photographs, documents, and fine antiques, many of which are currently on display at the El Dorado County Historical Museum and the Fountain & Tallman Museum.  Stella also set up a scholarship fund for County high school graduates planning to attend college, and that scholarship is still in place today.

Louisiana Schnell (1903-1985)was born and raised in Pennsylvania and first taught in the state of Louisiana for seven years before moving to California, and then moved to El Dorado County in 1931.  

 Louisiana taught in Placerville Schools for 35 years and was principal of Sierra School from 1953-1966 before retiring that year.  In 1966, the newly built elementary school in Placerville was named after her, the Louisiana Schnell School on Schnell School Road off Highway 50.  She was active in many organizations including the Soroptimist Club, Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, Charter Member of Delta Kappa Gamma, and she was a member of the Federated Church since 1931.  

 In 1958 Coloma celebrated the centennial of the discovery of gold.  The children of Miss Schnell’s class in Placerville Union Grammar School spent a week living as the pioneers had done.  Of that week, Miss Schnell said, “School routine wasn’t disrupted—it was just thrown out the window.  But the youngsters who for a week lived in the days of long ago learned what no books could teach them.  They responded to the living ‘feel’ of history.  They are out of their pantalettes and coonskin caps today and back to bobby socks and zipper jackets, but they got something they can take with them, something they won’t forget.”

Many of her past students reminisced about Miss Schnell and the positive influence on their lives.  She passed away in 1985 and is buried in the Placerville Union Cemetery.