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Prairie City High School, circa 1914, in Jasper County, Iowa??

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series "Roberts Family Photo Album, circa 1910-1920s."
#42- Is this Prairie City High School in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa? This image may be from about 1914.

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

More pictures without names to identify them! While frustrating, it is a sort of fun puzzle, trying to fit dates and places and people together. Thankfully many of the images were together in photos albums, so that helps us to at least group some of the images together, tentatively, of course. Whether we ever determine exactly who is who in the images, we still know they are related to our family, and they are a glimpse into the life of out family, whether at work on a fam, gathering with family, or studying at school. We do ask your help if you can ID any of these people or places, or know someone who can. Please let us know in the “Comments” or “Contact Us” section of the blog! Even an ‘educated guess’ can steer us toward more research and understanding.

Here is another view of this large building:

#43- Is this Prairie City High School, Prairie City, Iowa, about 1914?

We believe this may be PCHS because this photo was found with other Roberts family treasures:

#44a- “Prairie City High School, Nov. 1914” group picture; Edith ROBERTS (later McMURRY, then LUCK) is 2nd from the right, kneeling, in second row. [Click to enlarge.]
This image looks very similar to the doorway seen in picture #43 above, and the windows look similar although it is hard to tell if there is another window behind the tree in the building picture.

And then we turned over this picture…

#44b- Reverse of Prairie City High School group photo. Written in pencil in what appears to be the writing of Edith Roberts.

This was not written in recent years- note how the extender of the ‘g’ in “High” has cracked with the board. More recent IDs on the Roberts pictures are in pen. This also looks similar to other handwriting we believe to be Edith’s in her younger years- it got much more difficult to read as she aged!

#43- Edith ROBERTS on right with unknown friend in front of building that may be Prairie City High School, circa 1914.

The following was an image in the same photo album as the large building and high school pictures:

#44- PLAY BALL!! Unknown student likely from Prairie City High School (see shirt) baseball team, circa 1914.

Could this young man be a Prairie City High School (see shirt) baseball team member, circa 1914? People back then did not wear shirts with big logos generally, unless as part of a sports team.

#45- Three young women- or two young women with a teacher? that appear to be in front of Prairie City High School about 1914.

The above image seemed similar to the larger building front steps, but then we noticed the columns. Maybe we just can’t see them on the smaller picture of the large building? Or perhaps this is another part of the building- or even somewhere completely different. Edith did attend the State University of Iowa in Iowa City (now the University of Iowa), so perhaps this is later than high school.

To throw a wrench in all this surmising, here is a photo from the same album:

#46- Edith ROBERTS, far right, standing, with a school group. “1920 P C” is on the sign.

What? How is this group from 1920, and why does it say “P C”? We know Edith graduated from Prairie City High School in 1918, so is this a group at college of students from Prairie City? Or a group at college in a club, such as a debate team? Or is this a group that came back to PCHS for a reunion in 1920? This part of the building does not have a high foundation like the above large building pictures, but it could have been taken at a part of the building that was not raised as much.

This image was under the above on the album page:

#47- Edith ROBERTS, farthest left, with school group, probably her physical education class, possibly circa 1920.

Was this taken in Prairie City when Edith was in high school, or once she got to the State University of Iowa? We have no clues, other than it being under the image that states 1920 was the year, but there is that confounding “P C” on the above sign.

We would truly appreciate any information that could help us identify some of these images. Please add a “Comment” or use our “Contact Us” page if you know anything about these bygone days. Your message will wait for approval and your email address will never be visible to others visiting the blog, only the website administrator who vows to never use it other than to reply to you.

Thanks for looking and pondering with us!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. The numbers by the photos are for reference since we do not know many of the people in this album.
  2. “Roberts Family Photo Album” circa 1910-1925 or so. Images may have been taken in Jasper County, Iowa.
  3. “Mystery Monday: The Children of Mary Jane (Roberts) [French] Blount” https://heritageramblings.net/2016/05/16/mystery-monday-the-children-of-mary-jane-roberts-french-blount/
  4.  “Edith M. Roberts and the Prairie City High School Class of 1918” https://heritageramblings.net/2021/11/15/edith-m-roberts-and-the-prairie-city-high-school-class-of-1918/

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2022 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

Roberts Family Photo Album- Babies and Families

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series "Roberts Family Photo Album, circa 1910-1920s."
#19- A man, two boys (sons?), a dog, and some milk cans, circa 1920s.

Roberts Family, Daniel Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)

There is always a story behind a photo, and it would be so wonderful to know them all!

This snapshot of a time, a place, and three people is so intriguing. Is this a man and two sons, with one grown even taller than he was? Is this a man and his younger brother and a son of one of them? Or a three generation picture? All are in nice clothes, with the older two having ties, so were they dressed for a picture or some other occasion? And where were they, with milk cans on a grate alongside- a dairy perhaps? Did one of them work there? A closer look at the bricks suggests the right side of the building was added on… so many unanswered questions. We are hoping that some of our readers can help us to identify some of the people in this post, as well as some of the previous posts from unidentified photos that were found in the Roberts Family Photo Album.

The Roberts family was living in Indiana, then Illinois before their migration to Iowa around 1868 in a covered wagon. Edith ROBERTS (later McMURRAY, then LUCK) (1899-1982), told in a letter about how her father, George Anthony ROBERTS, Sr. (1861-1939), at age 5 ran behind the wagons on the long trek west. George’s parents, John ROBERTS (1832-1922) and Elizabeth Ann MURRELL family met the Robert Woodson DANIEL (1843-1922)-Margaret Ann HEMPHILL (1839-1915) family in Roseville, Warren County, Illinois, and their children married.

A letter to a Bedford County, Pennsylvania newspaper may have been picked up by other papers read by our ancestors in Illinois, or word of mouth stories of the richness of the prairies may have inspired our ancestors to make such a life-changing move.

“Here I am after a long, but rather pleasant ride. [The author had taken the train west to Iowa City and then a coach to Des Moines.] I had formed many big notions of Iowa: but, I tell you that every one of them came short of the reality… I presume that many of the emigrants whose wagons dot the road over the Prairies and whose family fires at night light up the woods along the roadside, don’t know that such a thing as a money crisis has come upon us… Capitalists in the East now have their eyes on the fertile, rolling, black lands of Iowa… In my travels so far, I have never been out of sight of timber and often passed large bodies of it. I have frequently crossed fresh running streams. Coal mines frequently occurred and game abounded… the prairie hens… fluttered up from about the coach wheels as they rolled along.”

While this was written about ten years before our families made the trek west, it could take a number of years to accumulate the money to buy and outfit a wagon, plus plan a trip of 200 miles after selling any farm, livestock, or other property owned and purchasing new at the destination. While today the trip would take 68 hours on foot per Google maps, it probably took 2-3 weeks by wagon with family, rivers to cross, broken wagon wheels, oxen to feed, poor weather, etc. Sometimes babies were born on the way too! So not a trip to undertake lightly.

It is no wonder people loved to show off their family and possessions in pictures and share with friends who were across the county or back home where they came from. The hand-held camera was such a wonderful invention!

#20- A mom and sweet baby girl. (Could this be Ethel G. ROBERTS ROBISON?)

And here is that sweet little one, about to take off walking into her future:

#21- What a great smile on this little girl!

Perhaps this is the same little girl in her rocking chair?

#22- A little girl in a rocker on a porch.

These children appear to be from a different family:

#23- Two children with a baby.
#24- Young boy in front of a porch.

Here is a gentleman who may have made that trek from Roseville. He probably never saw himself as a baby in a photo since photography was not really available until the 1840s, and then used mostly for portraits in a studio.

#25- An older man with a baby on his lap and a little girl with her dolly.

We have other pictures that include this man, so it would be great to learn who he is! (Please leave us a comment if you have a picture of him and/or know who he is.)

And here is one more cute baby in a little wicker chair with a bottle:

#26- Unidentified baby from Roberts Family Photo Album.

And of course, our contractually obligated picture of a little one with a dog:

#27- A toddler with an unhappy dog and big sis keeping them all together. Roberts Family Photo Album_c1910s-1920s. [Click to enlarge.]
This photo album is such a treasure trove… and there are still MORE pictures of our wonderful family. Stay tuned for pictures of the teens and adults.

And please let us know if you have seen these pictures or know any of the family in them. The “Leave a comment” link is at the very bottom, under the date in the grayed footer of the post. Thanks for reading, and maybe even commenting!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Roberts Family Photo Album put together in the 1910s-1920s era, probably Jasper County, Iowa.
  2. “Correspondence, Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 5, 1857.” Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, 10/23/1857, page 2.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2022 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

Edith M. Roberts- 8th Grade Graduation, 1914, and Rural Schoolhouses and Children

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series "Roberts Family Photo Album, circa 1910-1920s."

Edith M. Roberts’ 8th grade diploma from the Jasper County, Iowa, Public Schools. [Click to enlarge.]
ROBERTS Family (Click for Family Tree)

Today we head farther back in history from our previous post of Edith M. ROBERTS, (later McMurray, then Luck), when she was a part of the Prairie City High School Class of 1918. Four years earlier, on the 26th of June, 1914, Edith had graduated from 8th grade in the “Public Schools of the State of Iowa.” But what school was it?

We know that Edith could see her brother, George A. Roberts, Jr., and their sister Ethel Gay Roberts, later Robison, coming home from school- she wrote about this in stories to her family. The Mound Prairie schoolhouse was just a quarter of a mile down the road from their farmhouse. Edith adored her older sister and brother. Being the youngest by eight years, she would be at home with her mother, and could stand on a chair and watch out the window for her siblings to leave their one-room schoolhouse.

Jasper County Iowa-Schoolhouse near the farm of the George Roberts family. Photo taken about 1972. [Click to enlarge.]
This is the schoolhouse down the road from their family farm as it looked in the 1970s. If memory serves, the schoolhouse was along W 60th St S, between S 60th Ave W and S 68th Ave W.

Jasper County Iowa-Schoolhouse near the farm of the George Roberts family. Photo taken about 1972. [Click to enlarge.]
This building that housed eager (!?) scholars for many years was used for storing hay in the 1970s.

Edith’s father, George Anthony Roberts, Sr., was on the local school board and hired teachers- and the family also boarded them, more often than Edith’s mother, Ella V. Daniel Roberts, would wish. One more mouth to feed and another person in the small house was a challenge, especially if the schoolteacher had a difficult personality. (We have written earlier about some of those, and need to finish up those thoughts in some new posts. See notes.)

Old schoolhouse, taken in 1910-1920s probably, in with Roberts family pictures. [Click to enlarge.]
Finding this very old picture- 100 years old!- of the same or a similar schoolhouse in with Roberts family pictures was interesting. These photos were taken possibly in the 1920s, or even back into 1910 or so.

We believe that Edith attended this school, Mound Prairie, for her first eight years of schooling. She may have attended another school for the latter part, however, as her father had built a second house in Jasper County where he and her mother moved, but we do not know if Edith was already graduated by that time or if there was another school closer to the new place. We do know that in high school she rode her horse to her paternal grandparents’ house, that of John Roberts and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts, in Prairie City. (They had moved there when John sold their farm and retired.) She would leave the horse at their house and go on to Prairie City High School, and she did the same for church on Sunday.

We also found some old pictures that we think may be children by this old school, or perhaps by another school. (Click to enlarge any of them, or request a higher quality picture.) It is likely that the same floor plan was used for many of the county schoolhouses, and similar exterior materials. Foundations may have been just what was around, especially if the soil was rocky, so those differences may help to differentiate schools.

We do know that Edith Roberts taught in some of the rural schools after she graduated either high school or college, so they could have been the children in her class. They might have instead been family or neighbors who attended this school near the homeplace, or another Jasper County school. Some of the Roberts, Daniel, and Murrell family lived in nearby, or in nearby counties, with some family as far away as northwestern Iowa, Missouri or Illinois- even out into the Dakotas. Some of the same children, especially four handsome boys that look like an energetic handful, are in multiple pictures we have. While the pictures are quite evocative of a very different time and lifestyle and enjoyable in their own way, we surely would like to identify the people and share with other descendants who would also enjoy these pictures. So if you can identify any of these children or the place, please let us know in the Comments section!

#1- Four boys sitting on ground.
#2 Three boys
#3- Eight children that include some of the previous boys.
#4 Four children with coats and caps
#5- Two cute little girls and a dog by a building- school or house?
#6- Eight small children, by schoolhouse?
#7- Nine or so children on a log; perhaps it is Edith Roberts standing?
#8- Eleven girls, likely by a schoolhouse.
#9- Large group of children, by a schoolhouse? Includes some of the boys in earlier pictures.
#10- Five children by a fence- at the schoolhouse or on a farm?

 

More images to come- please do let us know if you can help identify the people in the images or the places.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest of photos, the “Roberts Family Photo Album, circa 1910-1920s.”
  2.  “Those Places Thursday: Jasper County Schoolhouse.”  https://heritageramblings.net/2018/04/19/those-places-thursday-jasper-county-schoolhouse/

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2022 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

Guy Leslie Roberts? Jason Lee Roberts? and Georgie Roberts of Jasper County, Iowa, Part 1

The Roberts Family (likely), out for a drive. Possibly Guy Leslie Roberts, his wife Florence Myrtle Wilson, and Guy’s parents in back seat: Jason Lee Roberts and Julia French Roberts. (ID needs to be confirmed further.) [Click to enlarge.]
ROBERTS Family (Click for Family Tree)

First,  it is important to say that **we do not know for sure the identity of these people in the car. **  We are hoping that a kind reader out there will share some of their images to confirm or refute our educated guesses.

Second, what a fun picture! Wonder where they are going, dressed in their finery. Looking at the intricate and beautiful hats of the ladies, they most likely will not be driving very fast with the top down.

This RPPC (Real Photo PostCard- photos were printed on heavy cardstock for mailing) was found in a collection of wonderful very old pictures that included many persons in the Roberts family of Jasper County, Iowa. There were no names on this image to definitively ID the individuals, but because it was a postcard, we got very lucky that it was completed to be mailed to a person and has a signature. Sadly there is no postmark to give us an approximate date. With this information, however, plus previous research, we can make an educated guess about the people out for a ride in this amazing new machine, the automobile.

Reverse of above image.

Again, while we do not know for sure that this image is of the people we listed in the caption, there are quite a few clues that have helped us to come to these conclusions. Here is a bit of the thought process and information used to verify steps in our hypothesis- it is not quite a genealogical standard of proof, but as close as we can get with the data we can find:

1. The car and clothing of the persons in the photo suggest the early 1900s time period in the United States.

2. On the front grill of the car, the name appears to be “Cadillac.” A Google search for Cadillacs from 1900-1930 was a starting place to ID the car, so we could determine approximately when this was taken and who in the family would have been alive at that time. Using the comprehensive “New Cadillac Database” was easy as one can to scroll through all the pictures and confirm with the text the specs and profile of a vehicle. Identifying features of the vehicle include distinctive square lights on the side with round lights in front. There is a curved cowling to separate the longer hood from the four-seater body. The car had a top (a demi-tonneau) that could unfold above the seats for protection from the weather if needed. If this non-car-person’s assessment is correct, this may be a 1909 Cadillac Thirty, an exciting new vehicle with a 30 horsepower engine. Top speed would have been about 50 mph, which isn’t bad considering how few roads were paved, especially in rural areas like Iowa. This model may have been the Model G demi-tonneau. The base price was $1350 (about $46,000 today), with a speedometer, lamps, a generator for the lamps (instead of oil or gas lamps), a detachable tonneau, a second battery, etc. all adding to the price- selling cars hasn’t really changed much, has it? This could instead be a 1910 or 1911 model, 1911 being the last year a crank was used to start the car. So we can say that likely this car is circa 1910, which helps us pin down the time. [Please do leave us a note if we have not found the correct Cadillac model- we appreciate true expertise in identifying this vehicle!]

3. We know the Roberts family had cars fairly early-on, as Edith M. Roberts spoke of her grandparents, John Roberts (1832-1922) and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts (1835-1917) having a car. Her father, George Anthony Roberts, Sr., enjoyed driving it before they had their own.

“I can remember the Reo runabout grandpa bought.  To have an automobile then was something.  They would drive out to visit us during the week, but never on Sundays.  Always they were in church on that day.  No one did anything on Sunday but go to church and make calls in the afternoon.  They would come chug-chugging in the farmyard… It was quite level at that time.  Grandpa so tall, and grandma so little, with her veil flying back of her in the wind.  They wore tan dusters.  They would come in for dinner.  Mother would have chicken and noodles, because they like that, and all the goodies that went along with a good country meal.

“After dinner dad would go out and get in the automobile and drive it around in a circle.  Of course I was right behind him having a ball.  No one else in the family had a car at that time.  About four o’clock they would leave and the next week they would visit one of the other children. “

REOs (pronounced ree-ohs) became available in 1915, and were produced until 1953. R.E.O. are the initials of Ransom Eli Olds, the founder of the company. And, for those of a certain era, the name of a 1915 truck called an ‘REO Speedwagon’ was the origin of the name of the excellent 1970s-80s band REO Speedwagon! (The letters were spelled out in the band name, however.)

4. Another good clue for identifying this image was on the back. As a postcard, the name and address were there: “Mr. Geo Roberts Jr” of Monroe, Iowa. We know that George Jr lived in Jasper County, Iowa, for his whole life. Georgie, as he was known, was born June 11, 1889 on the family farm near Monroe, Iowa in Jasper County, to George Anthony Roberts, Sr. (1861-1939) and Ella Viola Daniel (1866-1922). Georgie worked the family farms, both as a boy as well as when an adult. This helps us know to look at extended family and friends of the Robertses.

5. “Guy” is a less common name in the family, and a search within the family tree takes us to Guy Leslie Roberts, born December 9, 1890, in Mound Prairie Township, Jasper County, Iowa, to Jason Lee Roberts (1859-1940) and Julia French Roberts (1863-1917). Bingo! Jason Lee was the oldest of the three Roberts brothers born to John Roberts (1832-1922) and Elizabeth Ann Murrell Roberts (1835-1917).

Three Roberts Brothers of Jasper County, Iowa: (from left) William Edward “W.E.” Roberts, Jason Lee “J.L.” Roberts, and George Anthony “G.A.” Roberts, taken around 1900.

That meant that Guy and Georgie were cousins, and they all lived about two miles apart in rural Jasper County! Since there is no postmark the photo postcard was not actually mailed and likely presented in person, again suggesting that we most likely have the correct “Guy.”

 

Next: A few more identification details and photos…

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasures chest of photos and ephemera. A special “thank you” to all of those through the last 150 years or so who have preserved and passed on the beautiful images of our dear family.
  2. A special “thank you” to Edith M. Roberts McMurray Luck for the stories she wrote about her life growing up along with her sweet biographies of our ancestors, and the grand-daughter who encouraged her to put those thoughts on paper for the generations to come.
  3. Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1905 – 1912.https://www.newcadillacdatabase.org/static/CDB/Dbas_txt/Cad05-12.htm
  4. REO cars, and REO Speedwagon- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Motor_Car_Company, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Speedwagon

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2022 by Heritage Ramblings Blog.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

Edith M. Roberts and the Prairie City High School Class of 1918

1918 Prairie City High School Graduating Class, Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. Edith M. Roberts is standing 2nd from left. (Click to enlarge.)

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

The year was 1918, and the world was changing rapidly. The students in the photo above were born 1899-1900, the turn of a century that went from candles to gas lights for reading and doing homework, to electricity that eventually would power the lighting in their rural Iowa homes, and later computers. The US Post Office started the world’s first air mail delivery that year, with time zones and daylight savings time becoming official. World War I would finally end that November after four years of global bloodshed, but the first “Spanish flu” case was seen in nearby Kansas- that epidemic would take even more lives, a large number of them young people. Mechanization on the farm was improving although farming was still a hard and time-consuming job- note that there is only one male student in the graduating class. Other young men had likely dropped out of school by the 8th grade or even before, as they were needed on the farm or in the family business, thinking further schooling would not prepare them any better for the career they had ahead of them. Some of the young men might even have been in France or somewhere else in Europe, fighting in World War I.

Edith Roberts (later McMurray, then Luck), cropped from 1918 Prairie City High School Graduating Class, Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. (Click to enlarge.)

Edith Roberts (later McMurray, then Luck) is the student standing second from the left. Her parents, George Anthony Roberts, Sr. (1861-1939) and Ella “Ellie” Viola (Daniel) Roberts (1866-1922), and her siblings, George A. Roberts, Jr. (1889-1965) and Ethel Gay Roberts (later Robison) (1891-1969) lived on the family farm in Mound Prairie Township in Jasper County. Edith paternal grandparents were living at 108 N. Sherman in Prairie City while she was in high school. Perhaps she stopped by to see them after her classes some days, or took them some of the fruits and vegetables she, Ethel, and their mother had canned, or the delicious butter that Ellie made and sold in the local stores. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Ann (Murrell) Roberts died in 1917, and her grandfather John Roberts (1832-1922) may have moved in with his son William Edward Roberts who lived with his family on Jefferson Street by the time Edith graduated.

They all would have received one of these beautiful envelopes in May of 1918:

Envelope from graduation announcement, 1918 Prairie City High School Graduating Class, Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. (Click to enlarge.)

Within would be the announcement of Edith’s graduation, along with the names of her classmates:

1918 Prairie City High School Graduating Class announcement with list of graduates, Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa. (Click to enlarge.)

Commencement exercises would take place at the Opera House in Prairie City on Friday, May 24th, 1918, at 8pm. Those who would walk across the stage and receive their hard-earned diploma were:

Ruth V. Schakel Bessie M. Krohn
Edith M. Roberts Blanche A. Peery
Lora L Wooddell Marjorie N. Graham
Beth M. Anderson Berlin P. Ballagh
Lillian C. Pannenbacker

It would be interesting to follow up and learn more about the later lives of Edith’s classmates. As for Edith, she attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. She began with interest in a degree in music and teaching, however graduated in June of 1923 with a B. A. in Zoology- very unusual for a woman in those years! She did take courses in the science of education and psychology, so also received a certificate from the School of Education so that she could teach. She valued education her whole life, enjoying any chance to learn and imparting that love to her son and grandchildren.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest of photos and ephemera.
  2. There are ten persons in the class photo, but only nine are listed as graduating. Perhaps one of the women is the teacher for the class? The reverse of the photo does not list names.

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.