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Bradford was a pioneer in education Kenosha woman was first female superintendent in state
By Sandra Landen Machaj CORRESPONDENT
dent, her parents encouraged her to take the teacher’s certification examination so she could earn her own living. Two of her older sisters were planning to attempt the exam at that time. So Mary, who was still a high school student herself, signed up to write the examination that would allow her to teach third grade. One would expect the teacher’s examination in 1872 allowing one to teach third grade and not requiring the examinee to be a college graduate would be minimally intense. But it was not to be so. State law required prospective teachers complete examinations in orthopy (correct pronunciation of words), orthography (rules of spelling), reading, penmanship, mental and written arithmetic, geography, grammar, United States history, city government, and the theory of teaching.
In the 1800s, women in positions of power or elected offices were practically unheard of. In spite of this there are some women who managed to move to positions of power and make an impact on their communities and on future generations. One of these women was Mary Davison Bradford of Kenosha. Mary Davison was born on Jan. 15, 1856, in the Town of Paris in Kenosha County to Andrew and Caroline Davison where she was one of seven children. She was to become one of the leading educators in Kenosha and the first woman to serve as the superintendent of a public school system in a major city in Wisconsin. But it would be a long journey before she achieved this position. In 1872 while she was still a stu- A young teacher Bradford passed the examination and received her certification on April 12, 1872. She was then hired by County School District No. 2 to teach a three-month term, that spring for a pay of $25 a month. Returning to high school in the fall of that year, Bradford left again in the spring to take another examination and pursue another shortterm teaching position. This time she was hired to teach at Liberty Corners in Salem for $35 per month. Bradford was never able to complete high school in spite of returning for her final year. At this time her SANDRA LANDEN MACHAJ The Hi-Liter father became ill and, as was often Mary Davison Bradford died the case in the late 1800s, the entire in 1843 and is buried in Keno- family was quarantined for a period sha’s Green Ridge Cemetery. of six weeks to prevent the spread of
SANDRA LANDEN MACHAJ The Hi-Liter
Students arrive for classes at the Mary D. Bradford High School. School enrollment is now approximately 1,700 students, much larger than the 100 students that were enrolled in Kenosha’s high school when Bradford first taught at the school.
communicable disease. The loss of this time in class due to the quarantine and the time lost in the two previous years while she sat for examinations and taught, put her so far behind her class that she was unable to complete the required work for graduation. So without a high school diploma, Bradford at the age of 19, accepted a position teaching third grade in the City of Kenosha. For a nine-month term, her sala-
ry was set at $300. Bradford moved on to teach at Kenosha High School, which at that time had an enrollment of less than 100 students. She was paid $400 per year. Her career as a teacher continued in Kenosha until 1878 when she left to marry William Bradford, said to be a descendant of Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts. They had one child, who they named William, but their joy was
short lived as Mary’s husband died in 1881 before their child was a year old. After the death of her husband, Mary returned to Kenosha and resumed teaching in the high school. She again left Kenosha to focus on learning some of the new experimental methods of teaching at places such as Central State Teachers
See BRADFORD, Page 6
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