1906-1907 Clinton School Souvenir Booklet

Following the lead of some train enthusiasts in a Facebook group I belong to, I decided to poke around on eBay recently to see if I could find any old photos of things and places I've been researching that I haven't been able to find elsewhere online.

Unbelievably, one of the very first items I found was a souvenir booklet for Clinton School from the 1906-1907 school year that listed my great-grandpa Phillip Betters among the pupils and his dad, Austin Betters, and brother-in-law, Daniel McQuarrie, as trustees. Unfortunately, no photos of the students are included, but it does feature a photo of the teacher on the cover.

The eBay listing called this thing a "cabinet card" (a thin photograph mounted on a card that usually had an embossed design), but this was more of a booklet than a photograph. With only two pages plus a front and back cover, even calling it a "booklet" is generous. I had never seen anything like it. I didn't even know what to call it.

Without going too far down the rabbit hole, I quickly discovered that these souvenir booklets were popular among small schools and were usually given to students at the end of the school year. Here you can see many variations on the theme, and here you can see another school that apparently used the exact same supplier as "District No. 13" in Clinton, Montana.

I found it interesting, but wasn't sure if I wanted to own it. I shared the listing in a family Facebook group and a family member ended up buying it.

I did go down the rabbit hole to learn more about District No. 13 and the people listed in the booklet so I could learn more about my great-grandfather's school years in Clinton.

About the School

On January 3, 1887, Austin Betters and others petitioned the Missoula County Commissioners for the formation of a new school district for Wallace-area children. His petition was granted.

Three months later, school elections were held at the Wallace railroad depot. One trustee was to be elected to serve one year, one to serve two years, and one to serve three years. 

Based on the voting location, it appears that they did not yet have a schoolhouse, as a recent Montana school law required elections to take place at the schoolhouse if there was one.

The "About Us" page of the Clinton School District 32 website features a couple of photos from the district's earliest days. This photo of students, their teacher, and the schoolhouse is labeled, "Clinton School 1890s":

A copy of this photo hanging in the current Clinton school building includes the inset below which purports to show the floorplan:

This is the other photo from the website. It is labeled, "Clinton School 1900s":

Based on information I have found regarding the construction and expansion of Clinton's schoolhouses, I don't know how much faith I have in the dates associated with these photos. If anyone knows how the folks at School District No. 32 arrived at these dates, please leave a comment below.

Based on invitations for sealed bids placed in The Missoulian in May 1906, The trustees of School District No. 13 were seeking bids "for the construction of on certain school house, to be erected at the village of Clinton." The November 9, 1906 edition of The Missoulian reported that the Clinton schoolhouse was one of three new schoolhouses built in Missoula County that year, and "The cost of the Clinton school, which is one of the best in the county, was about $1,800."

In 1910, the school district was doing more maintenance and improvements, including the construction of "_________et" (See below. Maybe a toilet?) and a board fence around the school grounds.

Another invitation for bids in the summer of 1911 tells us something about the schoolhouse that the black and white photos above cannot tell us: Paint colors. The schoolhouse and outbuildings (yes, multiple outbuildings) were to be painted white and trimmed out in dark green. The flagpole was also to be painted white, and yes, all the paint was specified to be lead paint.

The Daily Missoulian reported in its June 7, 1912 edition that "Clinton has decided to build an addition to the schoolhouse and have two rooms and two teachers next term. It will then have nine grades instead of eight grades at present." An invitation for bids later that summer noted that the plans and specifications were being furnished by the architect, J. H. Kennedy. I'm not sure who was awarded the work, but according to a brief article in the August 3, 1912 edition of The Daily Missoulian, H. C. Bullard was the low bidder (among five), at $2,875 and the school is to be ready for the fall term.

If you'd like to learn more about early Montana schools and see more photos of schoolhouses, check out the Montana History Portal's "Early Schools in Montana" node.

About the Teacher

The Clinton schoolchildren began the 1906-1907 school year with Mr. P. C. Hays as their teacher. He resigned to fill a position with the United States government in Manilla and Miss Pearl Logan was appointed to fill the vacancy in December.

Mary Pearl Logan was born in North Carolina in 1878. She came to Montana with her family. It looks like they settled in the Hamilton area. 

I can't tell if Miss Logan graduated from college, but she was enrolled as a new student at the University of Montana in October 1900 and in October 1905 she was teaching in the Curlew District in Ravalli County.

Miss Logan married Charles H. McCormick on August 26, 1907, which likely ended her teaching career, as married women were not allowed to be teachers at that time. It appears that she spent most of her life in Missoula and died in 1957 in Helena. She had two children.

About the Pupils

The last names of several of the pupils were familiar to me, so I wanted to highlight for you how they are connected to the Betters. I didn't want to ignore the other pupils I wasn't familiar with, so I did some cursory research on them to share with you as well (Yes, down the rabbit hole again). If you are a descendant of any of these kids, I'm sorry for not telling more of their story. Feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you know about your ancestor(s) and their time in Clinton.

Here is a little about the children listed on this "souvenir":

• Leslie Northey - Abt. 15. Male. May have moved to Washington after this. The Northeys did a land swap with the Peers in 1908, so they must have been neighbors.
• Marguerite Peers - Abt. 16. First name spelled actually spelled "Margaret." Born in Canada. Married Ira Ailport. Died in 1975 in Missoula. Ira rented the Moore ranch (formerly the Betters homestead) for a time. I don't know if he was married to Margaret when he lived there.
• Thomas Mullen - Abt. 10. Son of Michael and Anna Mullen. The Mullens may have moved to Missoula after this.
• Philip Betters - My great-grandpa! He was 14 in the spring of 1907 and his first name should have two "L"s like mine. I'm not sure who Phillip was living with during the 1906-1907 school year. After his mom died in 1999, his dad sent him to live with his sister and brother-in-law (Grace and Dan McQuarrie). In the 1910 census, Phillip and his older brother, Stanley, were living with Melvin and Amanda Francis somewhere on the Mullan Road in Hellgate Township. They were listed as boarders and farmhands.
• Forrest Swartz - Abt. 13. First name is actually "Forest." The Swartzes lived across the river from the Betters/McQuarries. Schwartz Creek was named after Forest's dad, Charles, but the spelling of his last name was mangled at some point.
• John Peers - Abt. 13. Son of John and Emma Peers. Younger brother to Margaret.
• Ada Martin - Abt. 15. Daughter of Vital and Ozita Martin. The Martins lived in the section just north of the Betters/McQuarrie homestead. Like the McQuarries, the Martins lost part of their homestead to the Milwaukee Road too, but it looks like it may have just been a corner of their property.
• Julia Martin - Abt. 13. Sister to Ada.
• Alexander Peers - Brother to Margaret and John. I believe Alexander was Rufus Peers' middle name. If so, he would have been about 8 years old in the spring of 1907. Rufus married Ethel Hoverson, who served as Clinton's postmistress from 1938 to 1944.
• Eugene Burke - No info. Possibly another misspelling or middle-name-as-preferred-name situation.
• Lottie Martin - Abt. 10. Sister to Ada and Julia.
• Loyd Terry - 11. First name spelled "Lloyd." Son of Fannie (Betters) and Richard Terry. Grandson of Austin. Phillip's nephew.
• Hoke Marks - Abt. 8. Son of Robert and Fannie Marks and nephew of the teacher, Miss Logan. I believe the Marks lived in Ravalli County (Not within commuting distance). Maybe Hoke and his younger brother, Louis, were living with their aunt for the school year,
• Hazel Russell - Abt. 9. 
• Prescott Dwight - I believe Prescott was Harvey Dwight's middle name. If so, he was about 7 years old in the spring of 1907. Harvey went to Hollywood. In 1941, he was working at Paramount Pictures. He died in his 50s.
• Earl Swartz - Abt. 8. Son of Charles and Hattie Swartz. Brother of Forest. Earl later became Fannie (Betters) Terry's son-in-law by marrying her daughter, Martha.
• Frank Mullen - Thomas' brother. Birth name: Francis Mullen.
• Delmer Mullen - The third Mullen boy.
• Harold Peers - If "Harold" was William H. Peers' middle name, he was about 6 years old in the spring of 1907 and the younger brother of Margaret, John, and Rufus.
• Louis Marks - Abt. 6. Hoke's younger brother and Miss Logan's nephew.
• Edward Dunnigan - 6 years old. Born in Gold Creek. Son of Dan? Based on the 1910 Census, may have lived close to the Peers.

About the Clerk and Trustees 

Since the Montana Historical Society research center is closed for renovations through 2025, I do not have ready access to some records that could tell me more about who served as clerk and trustees for the Clinton school district (13 & 32).

I am a little confused about why there are five trustees listed. I believe there should have been three trustees in 1906-1907. If they were serving on staggered three-year terms, there would only be one vacancy each year, so there must have been some resignations and this list represents all the trustees that served throughout the 1906-1907 school year:

• Daniel McQuarrie - Austin's son-in-law. Married Grace Betters. I've written about him a bit in previous posts and I will definitely be writing about him again in future post. He seemed to be involved in everything ("lumber man," prospector, road trustee, county commissioner, county assessor, state representative...).
• Hosea Connick - Born in Canada. Father to at least four children. Appears to have moved to Clinton from Frenchtown. Died in December 1907 at age 55.
• Austin Betters - My great-great-grandpa. I was surprised to see him listed as a trustee. I know he was involved with petitioning the county for the creation of the school district back in 1887, but it seemed like he deserted his kids after his wife, Jane, died in 1899, so I figured he wouldn't be interested in serving on a school board. Jane died towards the end of her third term as a trustee for School District No. 13, so perhaps Austin felt he needed to continue serving in his late wife's honor.
• G. W. Rhodes - George W. Rhodes was born in 1860 in Missouri. He has appeared a lot in my research of Clinton. Spouse: Rebecca. In 1916, he traded his farm "east" of Clinton for city property on the north side of Missoula. Died in 1937.
• Julius Hazen - I believe this is another typo. I think this should be Julius Hagen. Julius is one of the Clinton "old timers" whose name pops up all over as I have been researching Clinton.
• W. P. Ketcham (Clerk) - I think his full name was William P. Ketcham. If so, his wife may have been Nancy.

Well, there you have it. In the course of trying to learn a little bit more about this "souvenir" found on eBay, we've learned a bit more about the history of the Clinton school, its teacher, students, and trustees. If you have anything to contribute to the story, please leave a comment below.