Chapter 35 cont. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIRST LADY TEACHER The honor of being the first lady teacher in Iowa is held by Mrs. Rebecca Palmer, who taught school near Fort Madison in the winter of 1834 and 1835. The first school house proper, also a log building, was erected in December, 1833, at Burlington, by W. R. Ross, the postmaster of the county. While Davenport has no place in these first paragraphs of the educational history of the state early provision was made for the instruction of the small citizens. The earliest school in all this section was the one maintained by the officers at Fort Armstrong, of which mention is made by Caleb Atwater in his work dated 1829. January, 1838, when Davenport was but two years old, the territorial legislature passed an act to incorporate the Davenport Manual Labor college. "The object," the act says, "shall be the promotion of the general interests of education, and to qualify young men to engage in the several employments of society and to discharge honorably and usefully the various duties of life." Of this institution of high-sounding title and wide range of subjects the historian of "Davenport Past and Present," says: "This scheme was a fine one, but it never amounted to anything for two reasons - lack of students and want of money." But the effort was commendable and is worthy of renewal at the present time. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/