From Schoolmarm To Superintendent
by Merry Stahel

On August 19, 1870, a summer day in Houston, Texas, Eugenia Blanton gave birth to the second and third of her seven children. The twins were named Annie and Fannie. In 1879, Eugenia died from complications of childbirth. Left alone with seven children, all under the age of eleven, Thomas Blanton moved his family to LaGrange, where his own mother lived and could help in the raising of his children. The three eldest children, May, Annie and Fannie, assumed the role of surrogate mother to their younger siblings, while attending school and helping out with chores. Another tragedy struck in 1885, when Fannie was struck with a childhood disease and died. Annie's responsibilities towards her family increased, despite deep grief over her twin's death. Annie continued her studies however, graduating with a High School diploma in 1887. Determining that her family need more financial help and armed with her diploma, seventeen year old Annie took a job as a teacher in the rural Fayette County town of Pine Springs. For a year, she taught the students in the one room schoolhouse, enduring the eighteen mile separation from her close-knit family with fortitude and the will to succeed financially.

Her goal was to attend the University Of Texas to obtain a degree. Although not unheard of in those times, Annie's ambition was uncommon. Teaching was praised as an occupation for women because it was "genteel, paid reasonably well and required little special skill or equipment." But Annie wanted more.

Upon her father's death in 1888, the family was in disarray. Annie decided to move her family to Austin, to be closer to her older sister May, now married. By moving to Austin she also was closer to the university, the move would bring better teaching opportunities and it would provide work for the children coming of age and needing a means to support themselves.

Annie took qualifying examinations to teach in Austin and soon got a job at East Austin Elementary. In 1892, she enrolled in the University Of Texas. She graduated in 1899 with a Bachelor Of Literature degree at the age of twenty-nine. The degree brought a pay raise and a promotion to English teacher at Austin High.
In 1901 Annie accepted a faculty posting at the North Texas State Normal College in the town of Denton, where her career as an educational leader and reformer began. For the next seventeen years, she held the rank of associate professor and taught English grammar and composition. Coaching the debate team and establishing The North Texas State Normal Journal were just a few of the activities that she devised for her students. Annie was also instrumental in the formation of the Current Literature Club, The Women's Shakespeare Club and the City Federation of Women's Clubs.

In 1910, Annie wrote two books, one on grammar and the other on punctuation and composition. These books established her reputation outside Texas, since many public schools and cities used them as texts. Annie became very involved in the Texas State Teachers Association and in 1917 became the president of that organization. She was an ardent supporter of women's suffrage and worked hard to maintain equality of the sexes within the organization. It was her advocacy of equality that led to the electing males and females in alternating years to the presidency of the TSTA. It was here, too, that she instituted and led the way in reforming educational standards for Texas.

In 1918, before women had the right to vote in general elections, she was voted into the office of State Superintendent of Schools. This was the capstone of a long and successful career in promoting education and reform in Annie's home state. In 1923, Annie was appointed adjunct professor at the University Of Texas and in 1927 they appointed Annie head of the rural education department. Her interest in rural education stemmed from her first job at Pine Springs where Annie became a lifelong advocate of fair schooling for all, even those out in the rural areas.

In 1929, Annie was instrumental in forming Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary society for women teachers.

Annie died in 1945 and perhaps she summed up her career best on May 31, 1922. "Everything that helps to wear away age-old prejudices contributes towards the advancement of women and of humanity."

Source: Pioneer Woman Educator by Debbie Mauldin Cottrell

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Merry Stahel has a lifelong interest in the Old West, and has written articles for several magazines, including Romantic Times, Romance Writers Report, Calico Trails and Chronicle Of The Old West. She is also a co-author with Pamela James, on a series of cozy mysteries that take place in the fictional town of Tinstarr, Kansas. She is married, is the mother of two children and lives in Texas.

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