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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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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