Thursday, November 10, 2016

THE TRAGIC LIFE OF PROFESSOR F.M. SHIPPEY

Professor Francis M. Shippey moved to Algona 1884 to become principal of the Algona school system.  At 30 years of age, he would be leading a growing school district, receiving $80 per month salary.  This must have been a fairly generous salary as it was twice the amount most teachers in the district received.  By the end of October, his wife, Joyce, and their son, Claude, joined him in Algona and the family settled in to await the arrival of their second child.

Shippey appears to have been a good administrator.  He met regularly with the school board and made various recommendations such as dividing the primary department into two divisions to each attend one-half the time.  He dealt with employee issues, the purchase of various instructional books, and budget issues.  He also was an instructor at the Kossuth County Normal Institute for area teachers.  The school board was quite pleased with his performance and by March of 1885 they voted not only to renew his contract but also gave him a $20 per month raise beginning the next school year.

TRAGEDY STRIKES

The Shippey family were settling well into their new home.  In addition to four year old Claude, an infant daughter, Delta, had joined them in January.  By the time summer arrived, they were ready for an outing on the river.  Boats were available to the public on the south bank of the river above the mill.  The family chose a boat and settled in for a lovely early afternoon ride.  The professor paddled out into the river.  

An area known as “the washout” was located a few rods above the mill dam where several years earlier high water had made a new channel.  Although a dam had been constructed there, at times when water was high, as was the case on this day, water would forcefully rush over the dam, producing a strong draft several feet back into the pond. 

Unacquainted with the river, Mr. Shippey rowed nearly due north and came almost immediately to a point directly above the north dam.  His back was to the approaching danger.  Soon he was within about three feet of the dam and it was too late to avoid calamity.  When Mrs. Shippey realized what was about to happen, she stood up and jumped overboard, clutching her infant to her chest.  Their bodies disappeared into the foaming waters at the bottom of the dam.


The Tragic Life of Professor F.M. Shippey - kossuthhistorybuff.blogspot.com
Old Mill

Both Professor Shippey and Claude were thrown from the vessel as it passed over the dam.  Shippey resurfaced and began desperately searching for his family.  He swam until he was exhausted, finally drifting to a small island several rods below.  He was able to attract the attention of a farmer who was crossing the bridge.  Sounding the alarm at the mill, word was sent to town for more help and several mill workers rushed to the location.  Soon a crowd had gathered on the bridge overlooking the scene.

Despondent, Professor Shippey was taken to his home while a search of the waters was conducted.  A large number of men began dredging the river using every means possible to locate the bodies.  After several hours of searching, the body of Mrs. Shippey with little Delta still clasped tightly to her was found firmly wedged in between some rocks directly below the falls.  So tightly were they stuck that it took sometime before they could be brought to the surface.  A news report published in the July 1, 1885 edition of the Algona Republican states, “The bodies of the mother and babe were laid side by side in a platform wagon, their upturned faces wearing a natural and peaceful expression, the babe seeming to smile as sweetly as though sleeping in its cradle, and thus they were taken to the now desolate home, where the husband had preceded them.”  The body of Claude could not be located.  The search would go on for several weeks without reward.

The funeral service for Joyce and Delta Shippey was held at the family residence on Thursday, July 2nd.  A huge crowd attended, only a third of which were able to actually enter the house.  The room where the bodies lay in state was filled with flowers.  A large cross of white was placed at the head of the coffin and another lay tenderly on the bodies.  The sorrow that surely enveloped Francis Shippey must have been overwhelming.   

QUALIFICATIONS QUESTIONED

A controversy concerning Professor Shippey’s continued employment began to arise a few weeks later.  It seems that at some earlier point the local school board had passed a resolution requiring the principal of the school to secure a state certificate.  For unexplained reasons, Shippey did not attend the certification process in Fort Dodge.  The board then rescinded the resolution regarding certification as they had already entered into a contract with Shippey for the 1885-86 school term.  This met with some disfavor with the public.

Just a few weeks later an article entitled “About Prof. Shippey” appeared in the Upper Des Moines.  A letter from the superintendent of the Iowa Industrial School at Eldora was printed at the request of a school board member.  This school was a home for delinquent juveniles.  The correspondence addressed a question regarding possible dismissal of Professor Shippey as principal because he was once an inmate of the school.  The superintendent encouraged the board to make their judgment based on his success and failure rates while in their employ and not on circumstances of his youth which he had overcome. 

Given his recent devastating loss, I found the discontent swirling around Professor Shippey to be unexpected.  His employment was not terminated so there must have been some support for him in the community.  Reading between the lines, my impression is that he had offended a board member or two and they were searching for a way to remove him from his position.

SEEKING POLITICAL OFFICE

Shippey became quite active in politics which appears to have remained a lifelong interest.  That fall he was nominated for the position of county superintendent on the Democratic ticket.  His opponent was Ben Reed, well known in the area and a member of an early pioneer family. 

Several scathing editorials were written about his candidacy including one printed in the October 28, 1885 edition of the Upper Des Moines which states, “Shippey, besides being a stranger has not made any enviable record as an educator.  He is not popular in Algona and he will not receive his party vote where he is known.”  One must be careful about judging a person based on the opinions expressed in political editorials so it is hard to determine the true sentiments of the electorate.  Perhaps there was some truth to commentary, however, as Reed was victorious. 

CLAUDE IS FOUND

In mid-May, almost 11 months after the boating accident, Dr. A. F. Dailey and his wife were out for a row boat ride on a Sunday morning when he noticed a shoe lodged on a grape vine suspended several feet above the water.  Upon investigation, he found the shoe still contained a sock and the remains of a foot.  He summoned Marshal Tuttle and Dr. Garfield to the spot.  They found Claude’s badly decomposed body directly under the limb on which the shoe had been found.  Professor Shippey was able to identify the clothing and shoes as those of his son.  Although once more overcome with grief, he expressed his relief that the body had been recovered and could be buried next to the child’s mother and sister. 

With Claude’s body now laid to rest and his contract not renewed for the next year, the Professor moved on. 

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO PROFESSOR SHIPPEY?

Francis Shippey married Anna Seaman on March 6, 1887 in Van Wert, Ohio.  The family resided in Lansing, Iowa, for several years where Shippey served as principal.  That marriage produced two children, Ralph and Jessie, but ended in divorce. 

According to information on Find A Grave, the professor married for a third time in 1896 to a woman named Jessie.  The 1900 census shows them living in Waterloo with a daughter, Marion.  The professor’s two older children are listed as residents of their household.  By this time Shippey had become a school book salesman and traveled extensively.  A second daughter, Francis, was eventually added to the family.

Tragedy struck once again when Marion contracted spinal meningitis.  Given little hope of recovery by her physicians, the family turned to their belief in Christian Science but to no avail.   The patient succumbed to the illness at the age of nine years, six months and 23 days.
The Tragic Life of Professor F.M. Shippey - kossuthhistorybuff.blogspot.com
Shippey Family gravesite
in Riverview Cemetery in
Algona

The 1915 census lists F.M. Shippey as a general superintendent and finds him living in Des Moines at the Iowa Hotel.  Shippey died alone in Des Moines on February 4, 1925 after a long battle with liver cancer.  He was 70 years old.  Although survived by two daughters, a son and a brother, his body was unclaimed by relatives and so it was placed in a morgue in Des Moines.  Friends and former students raised the necessary funds for burial and his body was brought back to Algona where it was received by local Masons.  Though no record of him having been a member of the Masons while in Algona, a Masonic pin was found amongst his final belongings.  Ten local Masons attended the funeral as his only mourners.  Professor Francis M. Shippey was then interred next to the family members he tragically lost so long ago in the swirling waters of the Des Moines River.

Until next time,

KC History Buff


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