Milwaukee Markham Academy College Prepratory School
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1864-1904
PROFESSOR ALBERT MARKHAM, A.M.
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Professor Albert Markham, A.M. Principal of Milwaukee Academy, 1864-1887, was born in East Long Meadow, Massachusetts, in 1831/ He prepared for college at Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Entering Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1854, he completed his collegiate course at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. In the spring of 1858 he was appointed principal of the First Distrct school in Milwaukee, where he remained two years. He was then superintendent and principal four years in Niles, Michigan. July 24, 1861, he was married to Miss Caroline D. Stillson, daughter of Hon. E. L. Stillson, Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1864, he founded Milwaukee Adademy which he conducted successfully until his death in 1887.
Mr. Markham was succeeded by Messrs. Isaac Thomas, A.M., Ph.D., and Cyrus F. Hill, A.B., both graduates of Yale in the class of 1881. (pg. 14)
CYRUS FOSS HILL, A.B.
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Cyrus Foss Hill, A.B., son of the Rev. William T. Hill of New Haven, Conn., was born August 12th 1859, prepared for college at Phillips Academy Excter, New Hampshire, and graduated from Yale University in 1881. In the autumn of the same year he began his seven years' work as instructor in the Harvard School for Boys, Chicago. In conjunction with his classmade Isaac Thomas he then purchased the Markham Academy, Milwaukee, and secured from the State Legislature its incorporation and the change of its name to the Milwaukee Academy. The school had been closed for several months, owing to the death of Mr. Markham. Under the new administration a gooly number of students gathered together, and the expenses of the first year were met without deficit. Prospects were good for fine success. The labor of organizing the school at the beginning of the second year proved too great for Mr. Hill. He fell sick of typhoid fever and died Nov. 16, 1889. He was an enthusiastic and successful teacher.
Mr. Hill was a deacon in the Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, the superintendent of its Sunday-school and a director of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was held in high esteem by all who knew him. (pg. 15)
ISAAC THOMAS
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Mr.[Isaac] Thomas was born in Chester County, Pa., and was brought up as a farmer's boy, receiving such education as the country schools afforded. At the age of sixteen he was sent to one of the good academies of the County for two terms-20 months-and there received from one of his teachers a decided impulse toward the teacher's profession, which he entered upon when he was eighteen years of age. In a few years he had received the highest grade certificate, given by the State of Pennsylvania, when an opportunity for going to college presented itself. This he accepted, making the preparation while continuing his professional work, and entering Yale College in September, 1877. He graduated in 1881, ranking tenth in a class of one-hundred-twenty-seven members.
For three years after graduation he was engaged in private tutoring in connection with some work for the college, and post-graduate study in Political and Economic History, of the United States with Professor Sumner, for which he received his Master's degree in 1884. In September of that year Mr. Thomas was appointed principal of one of the grammar schools in New Haven, Conn.,from which position he was transferred a year later at his own request to that of teacher of the High School in the same city. This position he held two years, resigning it to become associate principal of the Milwaukee Academy-then Markham Academy-Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the fall of 1887. By the death of his associate, Mr. Hill, in 1889, he became principal for the remainder of that school year. In the fall of 1890 Dr. Pratt, the present principal, became associated with him in the principalship, and this association continued for one year, when Mr. Thomas gave it up to accept the principalship of the New Haven, Conn., High School. This position he held until the fall of 1897, greatly increasing the efficiency and reputation of the school in that time.
In the meantime he has been pursuing further post-graduate studies in English at the college and in the year 1897-'98 gave his entire time to that work in preparation for the next degree, that of Ph.D. In 1898 Mr. Thomas was called to his present position, principal of the Burlington, Vt., High School, to which he was able to bring large experience as a teacher, and the scholarship which comes from long and faithful study.
Mr. Thomas has published two books-both compilations-'Selections from Washington Irving," Sibley & Company, and "Words of Abraham Lincoln," American Book Company. (pg 16)
JULIUS HOWARD PRATT, Ph.D.
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Julius Howard Pratt, Ph.D., Principal of Milwaukee Academy, was born in Montclair, New Jersey, 1860. He prepared for college in the Montclair High School, and enterd Yale in 1878, graduating eighth in a class of one hundred twenty. In 1882 he was appointed instructor in the Montclair High School, but resigned this position to pursue post graduate study at Yale. For three years he was engaged in this work, acting as instructor in the college for part of the time, and taking the degree of Ph. D. in 1887. After spending a yar at Cornell and two years in Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, as instructor in Physics, he resigned his position to assume the principalship of the Milwaukee Academy, in company with Mr. Thomas. By the removal of Mr. Thomas in 1891, he became sole principal of the Academy, which position he continues to hold. (pg. 17)
MIFFLIN WYATT SWARTZ
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The town of Winchester, in northern Virginia, lies in the most interesting part of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and is the scene of many of the stirring events of our national history. In this town, not far from the house, still standing, where George Washington on his march with Braddock had his headquarters, was born Mifflin Wyatt Swartz, Instructor in German and Greek, in Milwaukee Academy.
His education, begun at home, during his very early years, was continued in a private school until he was ten years old. He then entered the Public Schools, going through the different grades and graduating from the High school at the early age of sixteen.
The summer following his graduation from High School, Mr. Swartz spent travelling in California and on his return entered the Shenandoah Valley Academy to prepare himself for his University career. It was here that Mr. Swartz first gave marked evidence of the ability he has since displayed; for, through entering the Academy late, he soon stood at the head of his classes and after two years' study was awarded the first prize for consistent and correct scholarship during that period.
The following fall saw Mr. Swartz a regular matriculate at the State University. Here under the inspiration of its great founder, Jefferson, Mr. Swartz pursued his studies for two years, at the end of which time he accepted the instructorship in English and History in the school where two years before he had been a student.
After two years' successful teaching in the Academy, Mr. Swartz took up again his studies at the University. In the course of the next three years he received the B.A. and M.A. degrees and also held for one year the John Y. Mason Fellowship, which was bestowed upon him by the Board of Visitors of the University.
Mr. Swartz's last year at the University was spent partly in graduate work after which he accepted the chair of Latin, Greek and German in Ft. Worth University, Fort Worth, Texas.
In the fall of 1903, Mr. Swartz allied himself with Milwaukee Academy. Here his interests and energies are now centered. (pg. 18)
HERBERT D. WOLFF
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Herbert D. Wolff was born in the Valley of Virginia, where he spent the majority of his school-days. Here he attended the John Kerr High School in the city of Winchester, and graduated there-from in the spring of 1892. Another three years were spent in Winchester and during this time he completed the course at the Shenandoah Valley Academy. The next year he accepted a position as Associate Principal of the Strasburg Institute, Strasburg, Va. and it was during the year spent there that he decided to make teaching his life work. Hence he refused the offer of the Principalship for the following year in order to better prepare himself for the chosen profession by attending the University of Virginia.
For three years he pursued in this well-known institute of learning the undergraduate work which led to the B.A. degree, and one more year spent in the graduate work was rewarded with the M.A. degree. Before leaving the University he accepted a position on the Academy Staff of the King's Mountain Military Academy, Yorkville, S.C. which position he held for two years and a half. For a part of this time he also held the position of Commandant. On January 1, 1904, he resigned to fill a vacancy in the department of History and Science in the Milwaukee Academy. (pg. 19)
MRS. GERTRUDE MACBRIEN SWARTZ
Mrs. Gertrude MacBrien Swartz received her early education in the schools of her native town, Ogdensburg, New York, and after graduating from them entered the State Normal School at Pottsdam. At the end of the tree years she received her diploma and began teaching.
In 1893, Mrs. Swartz went to Boston and entered the Emerson School of Oratory in order to perfect herself in her preferred line of work. While in Boston she was continually before the public, reading both in the city and its environs. During her second year in Boston Mrs. Swartz received a call from teh President of the State Normal School in Potsdam(sic) to the chair of Oratory and Physical Culture there, but she refused the offer in order to complete the course which she had outlined.
The year following her graduation she spent in public work, reading in New York, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. In the fall of 1898 Mrs. Swartz went to Fort Worth, Texas to assume charge of the department of Oratory of the Ft. Worth University. Here under her efficient instruction the University won year after year the first place in thh State Oratorical Contest. This year Mrs. Swartz associated herself with Milwaukee Academy where she is instructor in the Department of Oratory. (pg. 20)
MISS CAROLYN M. KING
Miss Carolyn M. King, Instructor in French, is the daughter of General Charles King of Milwaukee. Miss King attended school in Lausanne, Switzerland, for four years, pursuing courses in literature and history in the University of Lausanne. After three years spent in Italy she went to paris where she studied French composition, literature, and history at the Sorbonne. She completed the course and passed the examinations of the Alliance Francaise, being awarded their highest diploma.
For the past three years she has been engaged in teaching in Milwaukee. Her work in Milwaukee Academy began in February, 1903. (pg. 20)
LILLIAN BACON VANSCOY
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Lillian Bacn Van Scoy has been Principal of the Prepatory Department of Milwaukee Academy since 1886. Her early education was received in her own home, from which she entered the public schools, and later became a student in Merrille Institute, a school for young ladies, in Fond du Lac. Afterwards she was a pupil in the Fond du Lac High School for two years, and in September 1880, she entered Rockford College, in which institution she completed the classical course, graduating in June, 1994.
After teaching with unusual success in the public schools in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, for one year, she resigned her position in order to receive the advantage of the training in the Normal School of Milwaukee. From this school she first entered the Academy in March, 1886, as a substitute to take the place of a teacher who had been suddenly called away. She was soon engaged as principal of the Prepatory Department, and the ability with which she has filled that position, is shown not only by the fact that her services have been retained by every principal of the Academy, but by the fact that her pupils realize the thorough and painstaking nature of her work, and ascribe their progress in large measure to the foundation which she has laid. (pg. 21)
MISS FLORENCE MARILLA AUSTIN
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Miss Florence Marilla Austin, Instructor in Grammar and Latin in the Prepatory Department of Milwaukee Academy, received her early education principally in the Fond du Lac public schools, Completing the studies of the Sophomore year in the Fond du Lac High School, she spent the following year in the Merrille Institute, a private school in Fond du Lac for girls. Later she entered the Freshman Class of Lawrence University at Appleton, Wisconsin, and after spending three years there, she graduated from the Modern Classical Course, receiving the degree of B.L. In her Senior year at Lawrence, Miss Austin won the first of two prizes offered to the members of the Senior Class of Lawrence University, for the best essay on "Protection to American Labor and Industries."
During the two years following her graduation, Miss Austin taught in the Fond du Lac City schools, then resigned her position there to enter the Milwaukee public schools where she taught two years.
In the fall of 1898, she entered Milwaukee Academy as assistant in the Prepatory Department and still occupies that position. (pg. 22)