Mary Jane Sergeant was born August 24, 1837, to Gershom Craven Sergeant and Charity Ann Howell Sergeant in Raritan Township, near Flemington, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She was in the first class of the New Jersey State Normal School, beginning October 1855, when classes were held in Trenton City Hall before the new school building opened in the next term in 1856. Her first teaching experience was in Lambertville School in 1857-1858, before graduating from the Normal School in February 1859. Afterward, she taught in Copper Hill School in Raritan Township. On March 26, 1863, she married Dr. Cornelius Wilson Larison, also an educator, as well as a physician and proponent of phonetic spelling. He founded the Seminary at Ringoes and the Academy of Science and Arts at Ringoes where Mary taught mathematics and other subjects from the 1870s to early 1900s. They had two children: Mary “Polly” L. (Blackwell), and Benjamin. Mary Jane died on April 17, 1917. Her daughter, Mary Blackwell, donated her diary to then Trenton State College during the Centennial celebrations of 1955, where it was transcribed and portions were published in The Signal newspaper.
Founded in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, The College of New Jersey is the oldest teacher training college in the state and the ninth oldest in the nation. Originally located in downtown Trenton, the college expanded academically and physically, and later moved to suburban Ewing Township in the 1930s.
Over the years, the name of the college has changed to reflect its expanding mission.
New New Jersey State Normal School, 1855-1908New Jersey Normal School in Trenton, 1908-1929
New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton, 1929-1937
New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1937-1958
Trenton State College, 1958-1996
The College of New Jersey, 1996-present
Jessie R. Turk (1920-2009) graduated from Montclair State Teachers College in 1942, then obtained a master's degree from Oberlin College and doctorate from Columbia. She was a Professor of Geography at Trenton State from 1947 to 1982. An oral history interview with her in 1991 is available to view at https://www.njvid.net/show.php?pid=njcore:17492
Conrad J. Johnson (1912-2009) entered New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton in 1931 as a music major, but changed to industrial arts, graduating in 1936. His first teaching position was in Toms River where he taught until the early 1940s. In 1942, he joined the faculty at his alma mater where he was an instructor in the Industrial Arts Department for 40 years at Trenton State College until his retirement in 1982.
Head of the Department of Biology at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Michael A. Travers (1902-1970) received a law degree from New York University, then obtained Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate of Education degrees from Rutgers University. In 1928, he became the first Dean of Men at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton. He also taught Business Education (as well as served as chairman of that department) for 40 years, retiring in 1968. In addition, he served as Hopewell Township Municipal Judge and taught courses at Rutgers and Temple Universities.
Head of Department of Pedagogy at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Head of the Department of Physical Science at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Mabel Evelyn Bray was born in Madison, New Jersey on January 3, 1878, to Edward A. Bray, a Presbyterian clergyperson who emigrated from England in the 1870s and Priscilla Sarah Haire, a concert pianist from Michigan. By 1880, the family left New Jersey and were living in Michigan where Bray spent her youth along with her younger siblings, John R. and Eugenia (later Persons).
Bray’s educational background was diverse. She graduated from the Michigan Female Seminary in 1897; studied music in Germany and Italy; and completed courses at the University of Michigan, Detroit Conservatory of Music, and programs through the New School of Methods of Public School Music in various locations.
After traveling in Europe and singing in “small-town opera houses,” she began teaching music at public schools in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1899. Later, she taught at a few other schools in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis, Missouri. By 1903, she was head of the Music Department at the State Normal School in Cheney, Washington. Six years later, she returned to New Jersey to teach at the Westfield Public Schools. There, she founded The Supervisors School of Music. In Westfield, she began living with fellow teacher Harriet E. Mann, until Mann’s death in 1944.
According to the September 25, 1979 issue of The Signal, Bray arrived at The New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton in 1918 “to organize and administer a new special music curriculum.” She served as head of the Music Department from 1918 until her retirement in 1948 and earned the rank of full professor in 1935. She improved music instruction throughout the state by organizing high school choral groups. Her music program at what is now The College of New Jersey extended through the 1970s. She authored several music textbooks, including the Music Hour series for teachers and students.
In 1959, she moved to the Royal Oaks Manor retirement home in Duarte, California. There, she taught music appreciation classes to the other residents for fourteen years. She also edited the house newsletter Oak Leaves.
Trenton State College honored her in 1963 by naming the newly built music building “Bray Hall.” It was demolished in 1999 to make way for the new Social Sciences Building.
Mabel Bray died on May 27, 1979, at the age of 101, in Duarte.
Victor Galassi (1917-2004) attended New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton from 1935-1938 where he was the Varsity Sports Manager and participated in other school activities. He attended Rutgers in 1939, then entered the military. After WWII, he joined the New Jersey State Police where he retired with the rank of major.