Item Detail
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Bonnett, Frances Amelia Cluff
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1865-1950
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MSS SC 2917
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Frances Fannie Amelia Cluff Bonnett was born to Samuel Sampson and Frances Amelia Worsley Cluff on March 21, 1865 in Provo, Utah. Fannie was one of the first 27 students to attend Brigham Young Academy during its first school year, 1875-1876. At the age of 16, Fannie taught children in northeastern Provo where there had not previously been a school until 1888 or 1890. She married David James Bonnett on September 3, 1885 and died on December 15, 1950.
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This file contains two folders with typed pages entitled The First School in Northeast Provo, and a scrapbook (including photos) describing the first school in northeast Provo (later to be known as Pleasant View and/or Edgemont), its building, teachers, and students. Includes pictures, short biographies, and family group records of the teachers and students. The folder also includes writings from Shirley Blackburn and Eva Gillespie and discusses the early development of education in Provo. Frances Amelia Cluff was the first teacher at the first school in northeast Provo. She attended the Brigham Young Academy between ages 11 and 16 (April 1876 Spring 1881). Frances was one of the first class of 29 students who were taught by Karl G. Maeser as their only teacher. In 1881, at age 16, she was approached to begin a school in northeast Provo. That first year she taught in her mothers converted kitchen, as there were no other facilities for a school. For the 1882-83 school year, Provo City relocated the school to a one-room house belonging to John J. Baum. Frances was paid $25 per month, which she received partly in produce. Frances taught school for 8 years, until 1889 when at age 23 her first child, Vivian, was born.