Lessons in Mid-Nineteenth-Century New Brunswick Teacher Careerism

LESSONS IN MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY NEW BRUNSWICK TEACHER CAREERISM by Koral LaVorgna BA, University of New Brunswick, 1992 MA, University of New Brunswick, 1996 BEd, St. Thomas University, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Academic Unit of History Supervisors: Gail G. Campbell, PhD, History William Parenteau, PhD, History Examining Board: Margaret Conrad, PhD, History Sasha Mullally, PhD, History Donald Wright, PhD, Political Science External Examiner: Jean Barman, PhD, Education, University of British Columbia This dissertation is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK May 2016 © Koral LaVorgna, 2016 Abstract Early 19th-century teachers, often maligned in popular opinion, were largely misunderstood.The low status of teaching, fuelled by poor pay and even poorer working conditions, reinforced the negative image of teachers. Convinced that only the inept and unqualified would remain in teaching, contemporaries expected longterm careers to be the exception rather than the rule. This study of 19th-century New Brunswick teachers calls both contemporary and scholarly perceptions of teachers into question by examining the experience of teachers in the 1840s, with a particular focus on career teachers. The scholarship on teachers has either provided an occupational profile through systematic analysis of aggregate data, or has presented individual biographies of teachers at work. This study layers a qualitative approach over a quantitative evidentiary base to profile every teacher in the 1842 workforce. In that year, all teaching licences in the province were cancelled and those seeking to take advantage of the government subsidy offered to teachers were required to apply for or renew their licences. The ensuing petitions for licence yielded a list of 686 teachers, 538 men and 148 women.The 1842 renewal is used as a pivot point, from which position it was possible to examine teaching tenure, following individual career trajectories both backwards and forwards in time. Individual teachers were traced not only through the record of their teaching petitions, but also through teaching licences, payment schedules, inspection returns, censuses, Court of General Sessions records, Lieutenant-Governors’ records, school trustees’ records, newspaper reports, and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel records, among other sources. Contrary to expectations, this research reveals that nearly two-thirds, or 61.6%, would teach school for more than a decade, and one-quarter of those already had teaching ii careers of 10 years or more by 1842. Teachers’ petitions not only permit a reconstruction of the teaching workforce, and a means of charting their careers, but also give teachers a voice. Through their petitions, teachers expressed their ambitions and frustrations, teaching their own lessons about career experiences. iii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of Robert LaVorgna and Andrea Mattei, who taught me so much. iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank Gail Campbell, my supervisor, for her guidance, support, patience, and enthusiasm for this study. Her excellent editorial skills put the polish on the final product. I greatly appreciate that Bill Parenteau accepted the role as co-supervisor, and to the individual members of the Examining Board, I wish to thank you all for agreeing to serve in this capacity. The archivists at both the Harriet Irving Library and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick were invaluable throughout the research and writing phases. I particularly want to thank Patsy Hale for always knowing the answers to my questions, and to Roger Drummond for helping me muddle through the conundrum of 1816. I need to thank Denis Noel who was kind enough to provide me with all his Irish teacher files, especially those related to Patrick Bennett. I owe a debt of gratitude to Juan Estepa. Not only does he understand my process, but he prizes quality over quick results. The research I undertook for him often intersected with thesis research, resulting in discoveries that might not have been uncovered otherwise. To my friends and family, I thank you all for resisting the urge to ask the dreaded question: “How is it going?” I must thank my fellow Fifth Floor warriors, Barry MacKenzie, Svetlana Nedeljkov, and Wayne Solomon for sharing this experience. Andy Mattei deserves credit for unknowingly motivating me at just the right time and place. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Tables vii List of Figures viii Introduction “Steady attention and zeal in his vocation” 1 Chapter 1 “A moral man of good abilities”: Character and Credentials in the Mid-19th Century 21 Chapter 2 “Desirous of obtaining a licence to teach”: The Petition Process, 1816-1842 52 Chapter 3 “A person fit to be entrusted with the charge of a school”: Profiling the Profession, 1842 89 Chapter 4 “Pays excellent attention to his pupils”: Teachers, Scholars, and the Schoolhouse 138 Chapter 5 “Deserving of encouragement in her profession”: Career Aspirations, 1842-1851 186 Chapter 6 “Consideration of long service as a teacher”: The Aged Teacher 228 Conclusion “Sustaining the important office of a teacher of youth” 252 Bibliography 269 Curriculum Vitae vi List of Tables 3.1 1842 Teaching Workforce by Age 121 3.2 Marital Status of the 1842 Workforce 123 3.3 1842 Workforce – Age at Licence 129 3.4 Origins of the 1842 Workforce 130 vii List of Figures Figure 1 County Map of New Brunswick, 1845 ix viii Figure 1 County Map of New Brunswick, 1845 Restigouche Gloucester Victoria Northumberland Carleton Kent Westmorland York Albert Charlotte ix Introduction “Steady attention and zeal in his vocation”1 That your Petitioner is a native of New Brunswick, and a member of the Roman Catholic Church; that he has lived from his birth in a back settlement of New Brunswick; that being assured by many persons competent to form an opinion, that he possessed a faculty for the acquisition of learning; especially for Arithmetic & Mathematics; and moreover, being confirmed in the idea thus fostered, by his subsequent rapid advancement in these departments of study, he determined to prepare himself for the office of a Parish Schoolmaster, as a pursuit more congenial to his natural predilictions, and more calculated to lead to such attainments as he aimed at than the pursuits of Agriculture in which he has previously engaged. That upon the strength of such suggestions, and ideas, he has after much patient, and indefatigable study, and expence so far prepared himself as to be declared competent to fill the office of a teacher.2 Francis Gallagher was granted a renewal of his teaching licence in September 1842, not on the strength of the above impassioned petition, but because he had followed proper procedure. Gallagher had learned a valuable lesson about the primacy of provincial policy given the difficulties processing his first petition, and he assiduously followed the “rules” for his second. After having become trapped in the uncompromising tangle of a burgeoning educational bureaucracy, Gallagher used his 1842 renewal petition to teach some lessons of his own about teaching ambition. The purely mechanical licensing procedure, grounded in statements related to moral and religious conduct, neither recognized nor required assurances of personal aspirations or motivations, but Gallagher seems to suggest that the office of teaching should be so predicated. From Gallagher’s vantage point, teaching required a firm academic footing, preparation, and natural talent. 1 Anthony B. Tayte, Teachers’ Petitions, 1842, RS 655, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (hereafter PANB). This quotation was contained in one of Tayte’s certificates. 2 Francis Gallagher, Teachers’ Petitions, 1842, RS 655, PANB. Original spelling, punctuation, and capitalization have been maintained in all petition transcriptions. 1 He had invested considerable time, energy, and money in the pursuit of teaching, and it had undoubtedly frustrated him when his licence was originally denied on the basis of a single missing testimonial. Gallagher took the opportunity in his 1842 petition to prove his worth as a teacher and to make it clear that he had career aspirations, but it is doubtful that his statement of intent made an impact on the governing body. Conventional wisdom of the day, heavily influenced by the low status of teaching, would dictate that Gallagher’s early and enduring commitment to the profession should have been a rare commodity. Because careers in teaching were beyond the bounds of normal expectations, those who were so committed escaped the attention of politicians, reformers, and the public. Popular stereotypes, which informed public opinion, blinded even the most observant to the true character of the early 19th-century teaching workforce. These persistent negative images stemmed from misguided notions that only the inept and infirm, who could secure no other respectable employment, would be drawn to an occupation notorious for its poor pay and deplorable working conditions. Those among the able-minded and able-bodied who did take up the thankless task of tuition were expected to move onward and upward quickly, considering teaching a temporary occupation to be abandoned in favour of other pursuits, when the opportunity arose. The occupation offered few rewards, in either the pecuniary or professional sense, and because no special training was yet required, teachers were perceived as uneducated, unprofessional, and untouched by career aspirations. Contemporary observers would have discounted Gallagher’s experience as atypical, but they would have been wrong. Gallagher was part of a larger New Brunswick teaching workforce, 686 members strong in 1842, which was staffed by a considerable number of experienced teachers. Nearly 2 two-thirds of Gallagher’s colleagues would make a career of teaching, remaining in the occupation at least 10 years or more. Careers were the rule rather than the exception at this time, and commitment was manifest not only in longevity but in explicit expressions of dedication.

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