Florence Susan Spragg was born on October 16, 1878, in Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey, to Jane Mason and Arthur Spragg. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from England by the early 1870s, and she was the second of four girls who survived into adulthood. She enrolled in the New Jersey State Normal School in September 1897. She graduated with a certificate to teach primary grades in June 1899, with a final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 1 on page 88, of: “Has teaching power, but does not herself see essentials. She will interest little children. Judgment has improved very much.” In the 1900 census she was listed as a schoolteacher and living back with her family in Bloomfield. In 1905, she married Thomas Earl Rittenhouse. Their daughter Eleanor Jane was born in 1912 (died in 2004). By the 1920 census, Florence was widowed, and she and her daughter were living with her sister in East Orange, New Jersey. By 1930, she was working as a salesperson in a department store. Two years later, she emigrated to Canada. She died in Toronto on June 9, 1952.
Instructor in Music at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Martha “Daisy” Tredick Brewster (1879-1958), was married to Warren Brewster (1871-1950). They had a son, Charles T. Brewster. Later in life Martha lived with her sisters-in-law Edith and Alice Brewster in New Hampshire.
Rebecca Gasn, who went by “Reba” was born September 3, 1899, to Russian Jewish immigrants Jacob Gasn and Annie Eisner Gasn, in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Her older siblings were Louis (1888-1917), Samuel (1890-1942), and Sadie or Sayde Blidner (1894-1958); and her younger sisters were Rachel “Rae” Blum (1900-1943) and Miriam “Mona” Weiden (1901-1982). She graduated from Neptune High School in 1918, then attended New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton in 1919. There she was active in Theta Phi which was “a society, which stands for the enjoyment of the Great Out of Doors,” according to the May 1920 issue of The Signal student newspaper, as well as the Camera Club, Glee Club, and Young Men's - Young Women's Hebrew Association. Her younger sister Miriam, who later went by “Mona,” also attended the Normal School during Reba’s second year. She served as a student teacher at Trenton Junction (later Fisk) School in Ewing, then graduated in 1920. Shortly thereafter, she taught the “special class” (Special Education) at the Normal School for about a year. Afterward, she taught “special class” in Atlantic City, and at Monmouth Public Schools, including Belmar, for several decades. She outlived all of her siblings and died on January 25, 1989, in Neptune, New Jersey.
Vernetta F. Decker was a faculty member at The College of New Jersey when it was called The New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton, and New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton from 1926-1957. She taught Speech and was the Dean of Women. Decker Hall, a residence hall on the current Ewing campus, is named in her honor.
Lulu Bell Clough was born on July 18, 1895, to Lulu (also spelled Lula) Bell (1872-1959) from Pennsylvania and Ethan Earl Clough (1865-1952) from Maine. Her parents settled in West Trenton or Ewing, New Jersey in the 1890s. For several decades, her father worked in various jobs at the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton (now Trenton Psychiatric Hospital), the state’s first hospital of its kind, founded by Dorthea Dix in 1848, in Ewing.
Haskell attended Dorothea Lynde Dix School (previously named Brookville School) where she received certificates for punctual and regular attendance, correct deportment, and diligent attention to study. The school mostly served the children of hospital employees, but it closed in the early 1900s. She then began attending Cadwalader Grammar School in 1908, where she made the honor roll. She went on to Trenton High School and graduated in 1913.
A few months later, she began the Commercial Course of study at the New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton. She was treasurer of the Normal Pedagogical Club and maintained good grades. Her final evaluation recorded in the Grade Books and Reports, Volume III, reads: “Rather immature but bright and original. Can interest a class well. Should develop into a good teacher.” Haskell graduated in June 1915.
Her first teaching assignment was at Caldwell High School in Essex County. She was a substitute teacher and clerk, but within a few years, she was back in Trenton working at the Normal School, first as a “Teacher - Clerk” in 1920, then as Assistant Registrar in 1923. She became Registrar in 1924.
She married Josiah “Jay” Eugene Haskell (c. 1879-1961) in July 1923. At the time, he was the general manager of the Hasco Teacher’s Agency, but later worked for the De Laval Steam Turbine Company in Trenton. They did not have children. According to census records, her mother lived with her and her new husband until at least 1930, while her father lived elsewhere, eventually returning to Maine.
In the mid 1920s into the 1930s, she attended college and graduate school, starting first at the University of Pennsylvania, then finishing with a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University in 1930. She earned her Master’s of Education from Temple University in 1939. While at Temple, she received a life membership in the Iota chapter of Phi Delta Gamma, a national honor society for graduate women.
She remained in her position as Registrar at the Normal School as it transitioned into a four-year college, where she was credited in Time, the Great Teacher: a History of One Hundred Years of the New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1855-1955, by Rachel Jarrod. She was cited for her efficient work and ability to “steer the bewildered faculty” during this period, as well as during the school’s move from Trenton to Ewing. After over 35 years, she retired from the then Trenton State College in 1956.
During her retirement, she was active with the Trenton Kennel Club. She was one of the founders along with her husband and served as its president. The Haskells raised national award winning West Highland White Terriers.
In a Trenton Evening Times article announcing her retirement on June 28, 1956. She stated: “I don’t know when I made the decision to ‘teach,’” she said, “it seems as if I always knew that education would be my career.” She died on January 1, 1970.
Leona Priestly Bonney was born on March 26, 1865, to Anna A. Suydam and Joseph Bonney in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She began her teaching career in various schools including in Vineland, Highland Park, and Perth Amboy, New Jersey, before attending the Normal School. In February 1905, she graduated from the Normal School with the following final evaluation: “Capable in primary work. Refined. Observes children well. While she could do grammar grade work, I feel that she has limitations in subject matter,” from Grade Books and Reports, volume 2, page 60. Her first teaching assignment after graduation was in Long Branch, New Jersey schools. She appears in New York University School of Pedagogy’s roster of students for 1908-1909, but within a few years she was teaching at Hackensack (New Jersey) City Schools where she remained until retirement. She died at age 95 on January 24, 1961.
George Henry Voorhis was born on December 27, 1842, to Salome DeRonde and Lucas Voorhis near Hackensack, New Jersey. He entered the Normal School in Trenton in 1861 and graduated in 1862. On July 16, 1864, he married Jane Amanda Tindall. He worked as teacher and later, an administrator for several years in New Jersey. By 1868, he was the principal of Bordentown Public School (New Jersey). He received a state certificate for teaching first grade in 1880. He left Bordentown in 1881, and by the late 1880s, he was the principal of Trenton Public Schools’ Centennial School until 1902, when he retired early to Ocean Grove, New Jersey, due to poor health. He later returned to Trenton, where he died on May 14, 1911.
Sallie McRae was born on September 7, 1863, to Georgiana “Georgie” Gary and Walter H. McRae in North Carolina. The family made their way north in the early 1870s, and by 1880, Sallie was living with her widowed mother and siblings in Hackensack, New Jersey. She attended the Normal School where she studied the Advanced Course and graduated in June 1882. She taught in the Hackensack Schools (New Jersey) for several years. On June 19, 1893, she married Cornelius Blauvelt and they remained in Hackensack, where she died May 3, 1945.
Luther Sheppard Davis was born on June 20, 1869, to Evelyn Fitz Randolf and Artis C. Davis in Salem County, New Jersey. He entered the New Jersey State Normal School in September 1893, at the age of 23 after teaching several years. While at the Normal School, he was involved with music clubs and served as class president. His final evaluation in Grade Books and Reports, volume 1 on page 2, read: “Taught 2 years in district school. Intelligent. Ready. Manner not enthusiastic but commanding respect. Presentation usually good.” He graduated in June 1895 and later attended Rutgers University. After his marriage to Lizzie, they resided in various locations including Riverton and Rahway, where he either taught or served as principal. By 1920, they had returned to Cumberland County, where he farmed and served as a church clerk and deacon. He died on September 28, 1957, in Shiloh, Cumberland County, New Jersey.