Pioneer Teachers

We watched the movie "Christy" last night. It was the story of a young woman who went to teach in the backwood mountains of Eastern Tennessee in  1912.
Some years back a cousin of mine took me to visit the gravesite of our ancestors, Robert and Rebecca Rogers which is located near Western Carolina University.

I am reminded of Pioneer Ancestors who taught school in the Mountains of Western North Carolina in the 19th Century. Shown here is a photo of some of the Rogers family back at the turn of the century. Most of the girls were teachers.

Below is a photo of my grandmother Sallie Rogers who was a School Teacher.

 My great grandfather Robert Rogers had seven daughters and only one son.
My grandmother Sallie and her sisters, Lula, Bethie, Bertie, Baye and Dollie and Ida were all School Teachers.

 When they were very young in the 19th century, a neighbor had a tutor for his children and he allowed the Rogers girls to attend the lessons. They felt it was their duty to teach what they had been taught. They had to walk distances to the schools where they taught.

Their only brother  married Fannie Pressley. My grandmother and her sisters could all speak Cherokee, for they lived very near the Cherokee people. Many of their daughters and grand daughters became teachers, This photo was taken in the early 1960's of the remaining Rogers sisters.The lady on the end holding a purse is Fanny Pressley Rogers who was the sister in law of left to right, Bertie, Baye and Lula.

Below is another photo of Lula and two of her sisters. From left to right are Lula, Baye and Bertie.

I was told that one time her sister Lula was walking home from the school where she taught and she kept feeling as if someone was following her. It was a panther.