Anne Morrison Perley

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Anne graduated from Washington University with a teaching degree in 1887 at the age of 22. She came to Arizona where she taught in Bisbee, Tombstone and Phoenix. She was the principal of Old Central School in Phoenix by 1892. Anne became fluent in Spanish and this skill would benefit her when she went to Puerto Rico in 1909 to teach. Anne would eventually work in New York as a translator. In 1930 Anne was in a sanitarium in Connecticut. She died from unknown causes May 23, 1932. Her cremains were returned to Phoenix for burial in the family plot.

Images

Perley Family Plot

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Anne was born January 28, 1865 in Henry County, Illinois to Peleg Stone Perley and Nancy Eliza Morrison. Her father Peleg was a teacher prior to becoming a lawyer and practicing law in Henry, Illinois. He was for years the Postmaster in that city. Anne was employed by her father as a postal clerk in 1883.[1] Anne had three siblings: Bruce, Grace and Harriet (known as Polly). The family moved to Arizona where Anne’s father could continue his legal career in a milder climate.

Anne came from a family of teachers. Her grandfather, Nathanial Perley, was an educator for over 30 years.[2] Anne attended Washington University, College of Fine Arts in St. Louis in 1887 and would also become a teacher in Arizona.

Anne travelled to Tombstone in January 1892 to temporarily take the position of Assistant Principal at Tombstone High School [3] and returned to Phoenix in June of 1892. She would then became the Assistant Principal at the old Central School, 201 N. Central.

Anne remained in Phoenix teaching until after the death of her parents. Her father in 1898 and her mother in 1900. She went to teach in Bisbee, Arizona and returned to Phoenix in 1903. Anne then left Arizona for New York and went on to teach in Puerto Rico, arriving September 1909 on the Steamship Coamo.[4] She was living in Pueblo Norte, Aibonito in 1910 teaching school.

Anne may have had the ability to speak Spanish from her time in Arizona, making this job an excellent opportunity. Puerto Rico had been newly acquired by the United States from Spain in 1898. The Foraker Act in 1901 implemented the standard for education in Puerto Rico where English was the primary teaching language.[5]

It is not known how long Anne stayed in Puerto Rico teaching, however when she came back to New York she was fluent in Spanish. Anne was living in Brooklyn, New York by 1920 and working as a translator for an export business.[6]

Anne became was still living in Brooklyn in 1930 when she became ill and was sent to a private sanitarium in Stamford, Connecticut. She died on May 23, 1932.[7] Her sister Grace arranged for her cremains to be returned to Arizona where she was then buried with her parents in Porter Cemetery.

Sources

1) Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of the Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service, Ancestry. Accessed November 25th 2020. www.ancestry.com.

2) Perley, M V B. History of the Perley Family, Internet Archive. Accessed November 25th 2020. https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy01perl/page/366.

3) "The Gazette...." Tombstone Weekly Epitaph (Tombstone) January 10th 1892. , 5-5.

4) "Los Que Vienen." La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR) September 21st 1909. .

History of Education in Puerto Rico, Enciclopedia De Puerto Rico . Accessed November 25th 2020. https://enciclopediapr.org/en/encyclopedia/history-of-education-in-puerto-rico/.

5) U.S. Federal Census 1920, Brooklyn Assembly District 1, Kings, New York, Anne Perley, Ancestry. Accessed November 25th 2020. www.ancestry.com.

6) "Friends to Honor Memory of Teacher." Arizona Republic (Phoenix) November 5th 1932. .

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Pioneers' Cemetery Association