My Grandmother was born in 1894 and grew up in Roxbury, a section of Boston, which is very different today than it was then. Her father had come to the United States from Ireland by way of Canada. Once here, he went from operating a tea cart to owning a brick-and-mortar store.
My grandmother graduated from Bridgewater Normal School in 1914 and upon graduation, she and her friend, Emily Ward, decided they wanted to both teach school and to travel. The traveling part was quite adventuresome for two young ladies in the early 1900’s.
In those days the Department of Education for Massachusetts had a large ledger in their office in which all the teaching vacancies in the state were listed. Teachers interested in a job could make an appointment to look for a potential opening. My grandmother (Marion Frazer) and her friend, Emily, found that the town of Rochester had two openings in the elementary school. They moved to Rochester and began their teaching careers. They taught here in town for two years,1915 and 1916, while boarding in area homes.
True to their travel plans, they then accepted teaching positions in Danvers, MA. The picture with this article shows Marion Frazer when she was teaching 5th grade there.
However, her traveling plans never made it any further than Danvers.
While living in Rochester, she had met and was being courted by James Hartley. He did not let distance interrupt his plans and was willing to make the trek from Rochester to Danvers and back. On one return trip from Danvers, he fell asleep at the wheel and collided with a telephone pole. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously hurt and my Grandmother always said that she decided she should accept his proposal of marriage before he did himself in.
They were married in June of 1917, lived first in New Bedford and then bought a home in Rochester. She had two children, was actively involved in town and particularly in the Grange and taught school for almost 50 years. Both in Rochester and surrounding towns.
By Connie Eshbach
