G – Graduates

“…my former servants … Tresey Maxwell and Betsey Doneghy (also of color) the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars each.” From the Will of Marietta Foster Ray, 1871.

$150 in 1870 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,741.81 today, an increase of $3,591.81 over 156 years. CPI Inflation Calculator

Teresa Primus Maxwell was one of the seven children that Foster Ray was allowed to bring into Kentucky for his personal use. She received $150 from Marietta Ray Foster in 1871. I don’t know how she used the money.

Teresa married Henry Maxwell, a Civil War veteran with the United States Colored Troops. They had ten children, all but one lived to adulthood. Emma and James Basil, the youngest, graduated from the 8^th grade in one of the “colored schools” in Lebanon, Kentucky.

The public school system wasn’t developed in Kentucky until after 1865, when the Civil War ended. Schools were segregated in Kentucky until after the 1954 Supreme Court ruling desegregating public schools. The process was slow with some schools taking until the 1960s.

In 1906 the Kentucky Legislators opened two Normal schools to prepare white teachers. Eventually one was also opened for black teachers. It wasn’t until about 1920 that a Normal School degree was required to teach.  The salary for male teachers in 1895 was $50.72 a month and $32.61 for women.

Because so many teachers lacked qualifications, sessions were held during the summer that offered more training through lecturers, papers presented and discussions. A reading circle was started to expose them to a wide variety of relevant literature.

Emma Maxwell married Frank Rice, an undertaker. They had one child who died in infancy and Emma continued to teach until 1918 when the family relocated to Paducah Kentucky where she began working as a nurse at the Illinois Central Hospital, for men injured while working on the railroad.

Mrs. Emma Rice Funeral Monday

Funeral services for Mrs. Emma Rice, former Paducahan, will be held at 10 a. m. Monday at Rosary Chapel, with the Rev. C. P. Riney officiating. Burial will be in Oak Grove Cemetery, Mrs. Rice, who was the widow of Frank Rice, died early Wednesday morning in a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital after a prolonged illness. She had been making her home in Buffalo with her niece, Mrs. Hazel Walker, for several years. She is also survived by several other nieces and nephews. Mrs. Rice was a native of Lebanon, Ky., coming to Paducah 50 years ago. She was formerly employed as a nurse at the old Illinois Central Hospital. She was a member of Rosary Chapel, where she had served as president of the Altar Guild. Members of Rosary Chapel will meet at Mundy Funeral Home at 7 p. m. Sunday to recite the Rosary.

James Basil Maxwell married Annie Carter and they had eight children. They all at least completed high school. He taught until the family moved to Santa Monica, California in 1918 where he worked as a plaster and eventually as a mechanic and finally a janitor until he died in 1987.