Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-04-21
Death of Mrs. Emma willard.


the age, died at Troy, N. Y, Friday, April
10Th, at the advanced age of eighty-three.
She was the daughter of Samuel Hart,
who was said to have been man OF
prominence in his day, both in Church
and State, and was born in Berlin, Con-
necticut, February 23d, 1887.
In 1907, she came to Middlebury, in
this State, to take charge of the Middle
bury Female Seminary, which had been
established in 1900; she continued in
charge some two years, and on the 10th
day Of August, 1907, was married to John
Willard, M. D.. then United States Mar
shall for the District of Vermont.
In speaking Of this school she writes,
Tho winter of 1S07-S was one of exceed
ing hardship to me. Tho very cold, with
frequent storms and much snow, had to
walk from Dr. Tudor's, where boarded,
to the academy, and when there to keep
my school in large, long room, formed
like an ordinary ball room, occupying the
whole upper story, while the only means
of gaining warmth was from an open fire,
in small fire place on the north end.
Yet that winter l had an increased and
very pleasant school. When it was so
cold that we could live no longer, called
all my girls on to the floor, and arranged
them two and two, in long row for a
contra dance and while those, who could
sing would strike up some stirring tune,
I, with one of the girls for partner,
them all in rapid motion. After which
we went to our school exercises again.
The school had quite an increase in the
spring from different parts of the State,
and amounted to sixty"
Mrs.. Willard. upon her marriage, gave
up her occupation of school-teaching, but
as the event proved, only temporarily
DIR. Willard shortly after met with severe
and unexpected financial reverses, and
this seeming ill.fortune served to recall
her to her life work and resulted, through
her Efforts for female education, in an in
calculable benefit, not only to the coun
try, but to the world.
We will again let Mrs. Willard give
her own narration: at was in the spring
of 1914 that began at my own resi-
dence,' in Middlebury, the school which
Iregard as the germ of the Troy Female
Seminary It was there that I devised
and wrote that Plan Of Female Educa-
tion,' which was first printed in the win
ter OF 1S1s-19, and addressed as petition
to the legislature of New York, and be-
came the basis OF an extensive reform in
female education. While here in secrecy
describing the institution, which was my
beau ideal for it, and was diligently con-
sidering what name should give it,
heard Mr.. Merrill pray for our semina-
ries oil learning / said, i have it; l
will call it female seminary There are
now female seminaries, not only in Amer
ica, but 10 the islands of the Pacific and
in Asia. Many of these have been direct
ly taught by my pupils, or indirectly by
their scholars. As nearly as l can esti-
mate, have sent out about five hundred
teachers
My boarding school at Middlebury at
tanned so considerable reputation abroad
that not only did l receive pupils from
the first families throughout Vermont,
but also number from New England
and New York"
In 1918. Gen Van Schoonhoven of
Waterford, n. Y, invited her to remove
her school TO that place, and De Witt
Clinton, then Governor of New York, en- :
tering heartily into the plan, she finally
consented, and in 1919, with her teachers
and the greater number of her boarding
pupils, went to Waterford, thus preserv-
ing the identity of the school, which had
only an ordinary vacation between its
close at Middlebury and its re-opening at
Waterford. Two years afterwards it was
removed to Troy, and under the name by
which it has ever since been known
Troy Female Seminary" has continued
until the present time the foremost school
of its kind.
1t is not necessary for us to speak OF
the success of this school From eight to
ten thousand young ladies have been edu-
Gated here. They have been from all
parts of the Union, South a. we'll as
North, Vermont furnishing her full share
It il said that it is almost impossible to
go into any considerable town il the
Union without meeting ladies who have
received their education at this school.
The Troy Times says; "Many dustin
guished ladies, wives and daughters of
Governors, Senators, Judges and other
dignitaries, are among its graduates, and
one of them, Lady Gore Ouseley, hes q
reputation, in both England and Amer
ica."
1t is our intention in this notice only
to speak of Mrs. Willard in her connec-
, ton with Vermont, and in reference to
her labors at Middlebury we further
quote ain late account of Normal
schools made by Mr.. Ormiston, he says
the first in the United States was found
ed in 1888, in Massachusetts. This was
more thar twenty years later than the
time when began especially to prepare
pupils for teachers. In MiddIebcry,
Elizabeth Sheriff. and katherine Batty
were trained to become teachers in the
Institution which / was proposing to
found, and they were among my first
teachers in this State. The school, which
in 1914, was begun in in Middlebury, is
fairly entitled to the honor of being the
first Normal school in America"
In 1876, having relinquished the active
charge of the Seminary, at Troy, to her
son John H. Willard and his accomplished
wife, she devoted herself to travelling and
to the preparation of various works for
the press. Her publications are numer.
Gus, among which are many standard
school books, some of which were pre-
pared during her residence in Vermont.