From Gerald Karwowski:
From The Oak Clearing Files ….
Did You Know?
That on December 24, 1857 Racine had the first graduating high school class in the State of Wisconsin ….. with ten scholars graduating that year.
Here are their names transcribed. How much can we find out about each one? If they were 18 at the time of graduation, then they would have been born in approximately 1839.
Christia A. Sinclair
Horatio G. Billings
Julia G. Wheldon
Anna Byrne
Antoinette J. Russell
Elizabeth S. Butterfield
Lucy A. Cather
Angelina Wells
William H. Myrick
Marion F. Clarke: “… Daughter of Norman Clarke, and became the second wife of John G. McMynn, and now lives in Milwaukee.”
Gerald Karwowski: These updates about the first Racine High School graduates were written in 1922 by Eugene Leach and published in the Racine News.
Horatio G. Billings married Emily Bowers, a sister of Mrs. J.C.Huggins; they lived in Chicago many years, and moved to California about 1890.
Elizabeth Butterfield married James Woolworth in Racine. They moved to Omaha, Neb., many years ago, and he became a judge there.
Anna Byrne was a great-aunt of Gertrude Hunter, who is now a teacher in the high school. Miss Byrne died many years ago unmarried.
Lucy Cather married a Mr. Gregory.
Marion F Clarke was the daughter of Norman Clarke, a pioneer of Racine. She was born here. After graduation Miss Clarke taught in the high school. She married John G. McMynn, Aug. 1, 1860, and was the mother of his three children. She also taught in the Racine Academy, founded by her husband in 1875. She died Feb. 11, 1919, and is buried in Mound Cemetery, Racine.
Antoinette J. Russell– Mrs. Joseph H. Hurlbut—is now living in Evanston, Ill. As far as I have been able to learn, she is the only member of the class now living. She is an aunt of Emma Sage, with whom she corresponds with regularly.
Christia A. Sinclair I have learned nothing except that she never married.
Angeline Wells— Mrs. James M. Tillapaugh— was the mother of Mrs. A.J. Lunt. She died March 4, 1918.
William H. Myrick I have not learned anything.
Julia G. Wheldon was a niece of Reuben M. Norton, Racine’s first mayor. She married John McClellan.