338 – Life Goes On

Mark Jarvis

Mollie Cheney died in December 1907.

Life goes on. It seems insensitive, but so it does. School must be attended. Patients must be treated. Rollo shot Fred. Dr. Cheney and Miss Johnson went to supper.

School news

In May,1908, Ned Cheney graduated from 8th grade.

Rollo finished 9th grade, and Fred was in 6th grade.

As Director of the School Board, Dr. E.R. Cheney presented diplomas to graduates of the grade school and high school.

High school

1908 was the first year the High School published a yearbook. We’re lucky to have a copy.

The high school faculty members were Prof. C.E. Tilford and Miss C.M. Speckmann. There were three graduating seniors in the class of 1908.

Grade school

The grade school teachers weren’t pictured in the yearbook, but we can identify them:

  • Grades 1 and 2 – Miss Mason
  • Grades 3 and 4 – Miss Eberle
  • Grades 5 and 6 – Miss Fowler
  • Grades 7 and 8 – Miss Kirk

School rumors

Grade school teacher Miss Eberle was Ida Eberle. There were rumors that she was seeing Dr. Cheney.

Ida Eberle

Ida Nancy Eberle was born January 11, 1883, in Clay County, Kansas, near Clay Center. Her parents were Frederick and Martha Eberle.

Frederick Eberle was born in Germany in 1841 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1851 with his family. He served in the Civil War as a farrier, a person who shoes horses and cares for their health. He was wounded in the eye during the war.

Martha “Mattie” Alaway was born in Ross County, Ohio in 1852.

Fred Eberle and Mattie Alaway were married in Saline County, Missouri in 1878. The Eberle family moved around, from Missouri to Clay County in Kansas, to Trego and Gove County, and finally to Salina, Kansas around 1890.

Census – Frederick and Martha Eberle – Salina, Kansas – 1900

Ida was the eldest of four Eberle daughters – Ida, Dora, Sarah, and Quilla.

In Salina, the family lived at 721 Hill Drive (now Smoky Hill Drive), just across the river from Kenwood Park.

A teacher

Ida Eberle – 1903

Ida graduated from Salina High School in 1903 in a class of 31 graduating seniors.

She enrolled in the Teachers Institute, and received her teaching certificate in July 1903.

Teaching assignments

Each of the 88 school districts in Saline County was responsible for hiring their own teachers. Most of those districts required only one teacher, as they were rural “one room schools.”

For the 1903 school year, Ida Eberle was hired for a one room school house for Brookville District 88 for six months at a salary of $40 per month. Ida moved to Brookville.

In 1904, Ida and her sister Dora were hired at Smolan District 24 for the school term of six months, again at a salary of $40. Other assignments ensued in the next few years.

Ida Eberle – school teaching assignments – 1903-1908

In 1907, Ida was hired for District 42, just southeast of Gypsum. The school term was 7 months, and her salary was $45 per month.

Ida moved to Gypsum in the fall of 1907 for her term at District 42. Even when school term was over, she remained in Gypsum.

For the school year 1908, Ida applied and was hired for Gypsum City District 82. She would be the grade school teacher for third and fourth grade.

E.R. Cheney and Ida Eberle

E.R. Cheney was the director of Gypsum City schools. Ida Eberle was a teacher in the grade school. It’s easy to imagine how they met, and how the business of school continued their interaction.

By December 1908, they had decided to marry.

Marriage

On December 30, 1908, E.R. Cheney married Ida Eberle. They had a quiet ceremony at Ida’s parents’ house in Salina.

Marriage License and Certificate – E.R. Cheney and Ida Eberle – 1908

A new family dynamic

On Thursday, December 31, 1908, the day after their wedding, E.R. and Ida went to McPherson, where the Cheney boys were staying with their grandparents. E.R. and Ida and the boys went home to Gypsum on Saturday. It was a new relationship for everyone.

E.R. Cheney was age 37, Ida was 26. Rollo Cheney was age 15, Ned was 13, and Fred was 11.

Timeline

Sources:

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