Some of our recent and upcoming posts are focused on reading and evaluating source materials. The first of these posts, JCH Sources, part 1, was illustrated with this drawing…

Whistler, James McNeill, artist, Reading by Lamplight, etching and drypoint, 1859. MetMuseum. Bequest of Julia H. Manges, in memory of her husband, Dr. Morris Manges, 1960

This is James McNeill Whistler’s 1859 Reading by lamplight, an evocative drawing of a young woman, reading by the light of an oil lamp, a cup of tea at her side. The lamp is supported on a tall, slender metal stand. It’s light is raised even further by placing the lamp stand on a large, overturned bowl.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was Caroline Clark, or one of her other well-read sisters. Caroline would have been about 19 years old in 1859, when Whistler made this drawing. She was in the middle of her pioneering two-year high school course in Milwaukee, a talented, energetic young woman on the way to living a remarkable life of service. Here she is circa 1889-1900, around age 50, in the prime of life:

Townsend Elite Studio, [Portrait, Caroline M. (Clark) Woodward], inscribed “Mrs. C. M. Woodward, Supt. Work among Railroad Employes, N.W.C.T.U.”, photograph, circa 1889-1900. Photo courtesy Frances Willard House Museum & WCTU Archives, Evanston, Illinois. For more about this photo, see our post Another family portrait: Caroline (Clark) Woodward c. 1890s.

A family of readers

We know that all of the Clark children were educated beyond the grammar school course typical of their era. At that time, most rural children completed their studies after grade six, or sometimes, grade eight. To the best of our knowledge, all the Clark children attended (and completed) public high school in Milwaukee. Three of them, Caroline, Josie, and Jennie, completed the Normal Course, which qualified them to teach in the public grammar schools. Each of the three then taught in the Milwaukee public schools for at least a semester or two.

Several of the Clark girls worked at jobs that required a high degree of reading proficiency. Around 1870, daughters Laura and Theresa worked for a time at the office of the Milwaukee Sentinel, probably as compositors, setting type for the newspaper itself, or for some of the many other printed goods available from the Sentinel. (Fun fact: around this time young women were often preferred for typesetting work; it was believed that their slim fingers and attention to detail made them ideal for the work.)

For most of her adult life, oldest daughter Caroline (Clark) Woodward was a tireless worker as a speaker and organizer for the W.C.T.U., and for several suffrage and overseas missionary organizations. And in 1882, youngest daughter, Jennie (Clark) Morrison, received her D.D.S. from the University of Michigan dental school, one of the first few women to graduate from that institution. She practiced dentistry for 50 years, and in 1917 had an article printed in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

In 1863, son Henry Clark was listed on the Civil War draft rolls as a 20-year-old “student,” although it is not clear where, or what, he was studying (click the link for more on Henry’s studies). After the Civil War, Clark daughters Libbie, Persie, Laura and Theresa, having been well-educated in Mequon and Milwaukee public schools, went on to marry, raise families, and several—especially Persie—were active in women’s clubs and civic activities.

Mary and Jonathan were readers, too.

According to daughter Caroline (Clark) Woodward, Jonathan and Mary Clark were both “persons of more than ordinary education and, though burdened with the cares of a family of one son and seven daughters, were life-long students.”

Jonathan Clark’s education remains a mystery. We know that schooling was hard to come by along the mutable border area centered on Stanstead, Lower Canada (now Québec) and Derby, Vermont, where we believe Jonathan was raised. There is an indication that he may have attended school (again?) in Stanstead in 1831, at the age of 18. See our post Back to School 1831: JMC in Stanstead for details. In any case, surviving Mequon-area government documents written by Jonathan Clark show that he was highly literate, and had a fluid, well-trained writing hand.

We’ve written elsewhere of Mary’s brief service as “Mequon’s first teacher,”, circa 1839. After that, we lack documents in Mary’s hand, but examination of the various real estate, probate, and guardianship proceedings in which she was involved—between about 1866 and 1880—leave no doubt that she was literate and well-read.

Following Mary’s death in 1881, the Milwaukee county probate court inventory of her personal property suggests that Mary was, indeed, a reader, with an especial fondness for the novels of Charles Dickens. The probate inventory includes, in the Front Parlor,
• 1 Family Bible (value $2.00)
• 20 Vol. of Dickens Work ($8.00)
• 8 other books ($3.00)
And in the Bath Room, the items inventoried included
• 2 Chairs, One trunk and Contents, a lot of Books, Window Shade & Carpet (all valued at $2.00)

The value of reading and education

We know almost nothing of the early lives and school days of Jonathan Clark, or of Mary Turck and her siblings. Knowing what we do know about many of their adult lives, it’s clear that Jonathan Clark, Mary (Turck) Clark and all of the other Peter Turck children and grandchildren—male and, in particular, female—were more educated than the average frontier settler in pre-Civil War America. This is also true for many members of the Bonniwell family and probably for quite a few of the other early Mequon settler families.

In reading the old county and town records, we note that from the earliest days of settlement education was one of the most widely valued and financially-supported activities of town, county, and state government. The settlers of Mequon valued education and supported it from the first days. The vast majority of settlers—many of them literate but some of them not—made sure that subsequent generations of local children could read and write, and had the resources to do so.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back with more Clark House history, including more information about Clark House history sources: the good, the bad and the…unique. See you soon

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UPDATED, 7 April 2025 to correct the date of JMC’s schooling in Stanstead (1831) and his age as recorded in the school records (18).