Miss Wheelock

The items below were bundled together in a box of cast-offs.

Allie Wheelock was issued a teaching certificate in 1885--138 years ago today.

It was the county who issued her teaching certificate. In Illinois, the "Second Grade" certification meant that she was licensed to teach one year in an elementary school. By comparison, a "First Grade" certificate would have been valid for three years.

Allie Wheelock was born in 1867 in Connecticut. By the 1880 census, she and her widowed mother were living in Loda County, Illinois. I have Allie's teaching certificates into the 1890s. She was married in 1896, so that would have put an end to her teaching career. Married women could not be teachers at that time.

Photos of Allie and and the certificates she kept, in their original envelopes