Frances Shimer
Encyclopedia
Frances Shimer born Frances Ann Wood, was an American educator. She was the founder of the Mount Carroll Seminary, which later became Shimer College
, in Mount Carroll
, Illinois
. She was also the sole proprietress of the school from 1870 to her retirement in 1896.
, on August 21, 1826. She was the youngest of the four children of Rebecca Bryan and Jesse Wood. Her mother died of tuberculosis
when Shimer was 10, and thereafter she was raised by her older sister.
Shimer was remembered as an extremely acute student: "the mere consciousness of something unknown was sufficient incentive to arouse ambition to acquire." She began school near her parents' house at the age of two and half, quickly learning to read. At the age of six, she spent all of her saved allowance to buy a copy of Isaac Watts
' The Improvement of the Mind from an itinerant bookseller. At the age of seven, she was briefly sent to a boarding school
, but suffered from homesickness.
She was fond of pets, and also began to experiment with horticulture from a young age. Because she was much younger than the other children, she was allowed to spend her time freely around the farm, and developed a reputation as a skilled animal trainer. A memorial essay recalls that "from childhood she was considered very skilful in managing spirited horses."
Her mother died of tuberculosis
when Frances was ten, and she was subsequently looked after by her sister Caroline, who was 21 years older. Shortly thereafter, Caroline married Isaac Nash, a prosperous local farmer. Frances was then sent to the Stillwater Academy, a coeducational school in Stillwater, New York
. At the age of twelve, however, Frances returned home to attend to the Wood family farm and care for her father.
Throughout these early teaching years, Shimer saved her income from teaching and farming to pay for her future education. Influenced by her mother's early death, Shimer wished to become a physician, but was unable to find any medical school that would admit women. She therefore sought further education as a teacher.
The movement toward state-supported normal schools had begun in New England in 1839, and the New York state legislature established the New York State Normal School in Albany
in 1844. Shimer entered the state normal school in 1848, having been granted a full scholarship on the recommendation of her local superintendent. She graduated in 1849, having completed the two-year course in one year so that she could graduate in the same class as Cinderella Gregory. Shimer and Gregory continued to teach at schools in New York, but were unable to find steady positions due to the oversupply of teachers in the East. Shimer also began to suffer from tuberculosis, and sought a change of climate. She and Gregory therefore corresponded with the citizens in a number of Midwestern towns, looking for a teaching position.
A business acquaintance of Isaac Nash, the attorney John Wilson, was at this time seeking to establish a seminary
in the small frontier town of Mount Carroll, Illinois
. After some correspondence, Frances Shimer and Cinderella Gregory left New York together for Mount Carroll in 1853, traveling by the Great Lakes
to Illinois and by wagon the rest of the way. A charter for the seminary had been granted by the legislature in 1852, but when Shimer and Gregory arrived, there was no building and no students. On May 11, 1853, they began teaching to a small group of mostly very young students in the Presbyterian Church.
In 1857, a major expansion of the school was planned, but the Panic of 1857
intervened.
In December of 1857, she married local naturalist Henry Shimer
. Henry subsequently traveled to Chicago to study medicine, obtaining his MD
from Chicago Medical College in 1866, and taught classes at the seminary. He was also a noted entomologist. The Shimers lived in separate quarters throughout their marriage.
Beginning in the 1880s, Shimer began to spend the winters in De Land, Florida, where she established a large and profitable orange plantation. As with the previous farm operations closer to Mount Carroll, a significant portion of the orchard's harvest was shipped to the Seminary to provide food for students.
In 1895, Shimer's husband Henry Shimer committed suicide, either by hanging or gunshot. His death occurred five days after he had drawn up a new will leaving his wife with his entire fortune of approximately $200,000, and his surviving sister and mother with nothing. The will was successfully contested by the Shimer family, in a trial that drew hundreds of spectators each day.
In 1896, Frances Shimer arranged to transfer control of the Mount Carroll Seminary to a Board of Trustees under an affiliation with the University of Chicago
. She subsequently retired to Florida and took up orange-growing. However, the orange groves were destroyed in a frost.
Shimer College
Shimer College is a very small, private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded by Frances Wood Shimer in 1853 in the frontier town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, it was a women's school for most of its first century. It joined with the University of...
, in Mount Carroll
Mount Carroll, Illinois
Mount Carroll is a city in Carroll County, Illinois, United States-History:Shimer College was established in Mt. Carroll in 1853, but mounting debts forced a move to Waukegan, Illinois in 1979. The campus now is home to several organizations, most notably the Campbell Center for Historic...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. She was also the sole proprietress of the school from 1870 to her retirement in 1896.
Early life
Frances Shimer was born as Frances Ann Wood in Town of Milton, in Saratoga County, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, on August 21, 1826. She was the youngest of the four children of Rebecca Bryan and Jesse Wood. Her mother died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
when Shimer was 10, and thereafter she was raised by her older sister.
Shimer was remembered as an extremely acute student: "the mere consciousness of something unknown was sufficient incentive to arouse ambition to acquire." She began school near her parents' house at the age of two and half, quickly learning to read. At the age of six, she spent all of her saved allowance to buy a copy of Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
' The Improvement of the Mind from an itinerant bookseller. At the age of seven, she was briefly sent to a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, but suffered from homesickness.
She was fond of pets, and also began to experiment with horticulture from a young age. Because she was much younger than the other children, she was allowed to spend her time freely around the farm, and developed a reputation as a skilled animal trainer. A memorial essay recalls that "from childhood she was considered very skilful in managing spirited horses."
Her mother died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
when Frances was ten, and she was subsequently looked after by her sister Caroline, who was 21 years older. Shortly thereafter, Caroline married Isaac Nash, a prosperous local farmer. Frances was then sent to the Stillwater Academy, a coeducational school in Stillwater, New York
Stillwater, New York
Stillwater is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 7,522 at the 2000 census. The town contains a village called Stillwater...
. At the age of twelve, however, Frances returned home to attend to the Wood family farm and care for her father.
New York teaching career
Shimer took up teaching in local Saratoga County schools at the age of fourteen. She also continued to care for her father's farm until it was sold. After the sale of the farm, she and her father lived at the spacious Nash residence. While living with the Nashes, Shimer first made the acquaintance of Cinderella Gregory, who boarded at the Nash house while teaching in the district.Throughout these early teaching years, Shimer saved her income from teaching and farming to pay for her future education. Influenced by her mother's early death, Shimer wished to become a physician, but was unable to find any medical school that would admit women. She therefore sought further education as a teacher.
The movement toward state-supported normal schools had begun in New England in 1839, and the New York state legislature established the New York State Normal School in Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
in 1844. Shimer entered the state normal school in 1848, having been granted a full scholarship on the recommendation of her local superintendent. She graduated in 1849, having completed the two-year course in one year so that she could graduate in the same class as Cinderella Gregory. Shimer and Gregory continued to teach at schools in New York, but were unable to find steady positions due to the oversupply of teachers in the East. Shimer also began to suffer from tuberculosis, and sought a change of climate. She and Gregory therefore corresponded with the citizens in a number of Midwestern towns, looking for a teaching position.
A business acquaintance of Isaac Nash, the attorney John Wilson, was at this time seeking to establish a seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in the small frontier town of Mount Carroll, Illinois
Mount Carroll, Illinois
Mount Carroll is a city in Carroll County, Illinois, United States-History:Shimer College was established in Mt. Carroll in 1853, but mounting debts forced a move to Waukegan, Illinois in 1979. The campus now is home to several organizations, most notably the Campbell Center for Historic...
. After some correspondence, Frances Shimer and Cinderella Gregory left New York together for Mount Carroll in 1853, traveling by the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to Illinois and by wagon the rest of the way. A charter for the seminary had been granted by the legislature in 1852, but when Shimer and Gregory arrived, there was no building and no students. On May 11, 1853, they began teaching to a small group of mostly very young students in the Presbyterian Church.
Co-Principal of Mount Carroll Seminary 1853-1870
From 1853 to 1870, Frances Shimer operated the Mount Carroll Seminary as a partnership with Cinderella Gregory, who served as the chief academic officer while Shimer handled finances and other non-academic operations. Shimer and Gregory purchased the school from the discouraged incorporators in 1855, when it still occupied only a single building. The subsequent expansion of the seminary to a 25-acre campus with four connected buildings and numerous outbuildings was attributed largely to Shimer's industry and careful management of finances.In 1857, a major expansion of the school was planned, but the Panic of 1857
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Indeed, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was...
intervened.
In December of 1857, she married local naturalist Henry Shimer
Henry Shimer
Henry Shimer was a naturalist and physician in Mount Carroll, Illinois. He was also a teacher at the Mount Carroll Seminary, which later became Shimer College, and was the husband of the seminary's founder, Frances Shimer....
. Henry subsequently traveled to Chicago to study medicine, obtaining his MD
MD
- Science :* Doctor of Medicine, from the Latin Medicinæ Doctor * Macular degeneration, a condition characterized by progressive thinning and atrophy of the macula area of the retina* Mahalanobis distance, a distance measure introduced by P. C...
from Chicago Medical College in 1866, and taught classes at the seminary. He was also a noted entomologist. The Shimers lived in separate quarters throughout their marriage.
Principal of Mount Carroll Seminary 1870-1896
In 1870, a number of significant events occurred. Gregory left the school to marry, and sold her interest in the seminary to Shimer. Adelia Joy was brought on to replace Gregory administratively, but the school remained Shimer's sole property until she relinquished control in 1896.Beginning in the 1880s, Shimer began to spend the winters in De Land, Florida, where she established a large and profitable orange plantation. As with the previous farm operations closer to Mount Carroll, a significant portion of the orchard's harvest was shipped to the Seminary to provide food for students.
In 1895, Shimer's husband Henry Shimer committed suicide, either by hanging or gunshot. His death occurred five days after he had drawn up a new will leaving his wife with his entire fortune of approximately $200,000, and his surviving sister and mother with nothing. The will was successfully contested by the Shimer family, in a trial that drew hundreds of spectators each day.
In 1896, Frances Shimer arranged to transfer control of the Mount Carroll Seminary to a Board of Trustees under an affiliation with the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. She subsequently retired to Florida and took up orange-growing. However, the orange groves were destroyed in a frost.
Final years 1896-1901
Frances Shimer died on November 10, 1901. Her body was returned to Mount Carroll for burial, and interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery where her husband was also buried.See also
- History of Shimer CollegeHistory of Shimer CollegeThe history of Shimer College begins in 1853, and has involved a series of crises and profound changes. Because of this, the college is often symbolized by a phoenix which is reborn from its own ashes...
- List of Shimer College presidents