1 CMNT Came To Clyde, NY In 1835; To Clayton In 1839
1 CMNT Ref. 3 Says Her Name Was Ludsley
Obituary (from newspaper of Wednesday, 9 June 1943): William J. Linnell, 80, of 309 TenEyck Street, superintendent of the second supervisory school district of Jefferson county for 24 years until his retirement in 1936, died at 5:30 Tuesday
afternoon at his home after a serious illness of about six weeks. Death resulted from leukemia, a fatal blood disease.Funeral services will be held at the family home Friday afternoon at 2:30. Rev. Dr. Harold H. Niles, pastor of All Souls Universalist Church, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Dexter Cemetery.
The retired educator who had been in declining health for months, was first stricken with influenza. Later, his illness was diagnosed as leukemia, a disease charcterized by a marked increase in the number of white blood corpuscles.
On May 21 he was removed to the House of the Good Samaritan, critically ill, and underwent a blood transfusion May 25 and another on May 29, but hope for his recovery was finally abandoned. At his own request, Mr. Linnell was removed to
his home from the hospital last Sunday and he failed rapidly until his death.Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Clara Wells Linnell; a son, H. Wells Linnell, Limerick; a granddaughter, Miss Madeline C. Linnell, Limerick; a brother, J. Marshall Linnell, Clayton, and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mayer, 124 South Indiana
Avenue.Mr. Linnell, who was actively connected with educational work throughout northern New York and the state as an educator and an authority on rural school systems.
William J. Linnell belonged to that pioneer group of teachers of the '80s and '90s who "boarded around" while teaching in rural schools for as little at $12 a month and board. Hundreds of persons still residing in Jefferson county and
others who formerly resided in this county received instruction from him, at one time or another during his long career.In an interview while he was attending a convention of the Association of Academic Principals in Syracuse in December, 1926, Mr. Linnell reminisced interestingly of his early days as a teacher and told how, in the fall of 1880, he went to
Clayton to take over the district school. His salary was $12 a month. He "boarded around" at various houses in the village."They always gave you the spare room, which in winter was as cold as ice," he recalled, with a smile.
There were about twelve pupils in that class back in 1880. At least three of them were older and stronger than the teacher and several teachers before Mr. Linnell had been obliged to give up the school because they were unable to maintain
discipline, but Mr. Linnell recalled that he seldom had trouble with boys over 16.The second year he taught school his salary was raised to $20 a month, with board. His third year, however, he received $28 a month, but provided his own board and lodgings out of that salary.
Mr. Linnell maintained that children in rural schools gain more from their early education than children in the city. Country children, he held, were more resourceful and accustomed to manual labor, thus being able to meet emergencies
better.William James Linnell was born in the town of Clayton Oct. 18, 1862, one of four children of the late George D. and Elizabeth Gray Linnell. He was a brother of John Marshall Linnell of Clayton; the late George Merton Linnell and Mrs. Earl
A. (Elizabeth) Mayer of Watertown.George D. Linnell, his father, was a native of Brownville and was a farmer and teacher. His wife, Elizabeth Gray, was born at Clyde, N.Y. Both were buried in the town of Clayton.
Mr. Linnell received his first instruction in a rural school in district No. 14 in the town of Clayton after which he attended the select school of Clayton Center, a private academy which gave instruction in all common branches. He then
attended Ives Seminary in Antwerp.Only 18 years old, he began his career as a teacher in a town of Clayton rural school in 1880. After gaining some practical experience in rural school teaching, he entered the Potsdam State Normal School at Potsdam to more adequately
prepare him for his career and he was graduated in 1888. He completed his three-year course of study in two and a half years. Prior to his graduation, he had taught for two years in Boone county, Ill., rural schools.Graduated from the Normal School, Mr. Linnell taught at the Three Mile Bay Union School and served as principal there for four years. His next position was the principalship of the Chaumont High School, a post he held until 1895, when he
became principal of the Brownville school.Under Mr. Linnell's administration, the Brownville-Glen Park High School received its charter as a union school. At the time he began his duties in the Brownville institution, it was practically a rural school. Organized as a Union
school by Mr. Linnell in 1896, the school was in 1897 admitted to the University of the State of New York as a Union Free School with an academic department.Although a school principal and a graduate of the Normal School, Mr. Linnell became a student of the Brownville School while he was its head and he was graduated in the high school class of 1901. The four others in the class included
Harold Galloway, Irving Lewis, Lena Pratt, and Bessie VanAntwerp. He remained as principal of the school until 19 .Subsequently, Mr. Linnell was chosen county school commissioner of the third district of Jefferson county and he served in that capacity for years until the position was abolished.
At the expiration of his service as school commissioner in 1912, he was chosen school superintendent of the second supervisory district of the county. A new system was set up whereby the county was divided into six supervisory districts
and Mr. Linnell was selected to be superintendent of the second, having supervision over all of the schools in the territory.The second supervisory district includes the towns of Adams, Rodman, Rutland, and Watertown, embraces a total of 37 schools, three of them high schools, and at the time of Mr. Linnell's retirement in 1936, employed 83 teachers.
When he first began service as superintendent in 1912, Mr. Linnell's salary was $1,200 a year. Gradually, the salary was increased until he received $3,000 annually.
The late Donald A. Wright of Carthage was elected superintendent of the second supervisory district of the county May 7, 1936 to succeed Mr. Linnell, who had held the position continuously for 24 years. On July 31, 1936 Mr. Linnell
retired from active service on an annual pension of about $1,525 and the next day Mr. Wright, his successor, assumed office. Mr. Linnell continued to reside at 309 TenEyck Street.While serving in the capacity of school commissioner, he substituted for a time as principal at the Cape Vincent High School. As a result, Mr. Linnell had the distinction of having taught in every high school on the Cape Vincent branch of
the New York Central Railroad between Cape Vincent and Watertown.About 1880 Mr. Linnell with School Commissioner D. D. T. Marshall was active in organizing the Jefferson County Teachers' Association, which became one of the largest of its kind in this state.
Mr. Linnell annually attended the convocation of the University of the State of New York and over a period of many years, he did not miss a convocation.
A familiar figure at practically all of the teachers' conferences and meetings of the teachers' associations held in the northern section of the state during his active career. Mr. Linnell identified himself with every movement undertaken
to improve the standards of the teaching profession.He was instrumental in organizing the Jefferson County Teachers' Association and at various times during his long career he served as an officer in a number of educational organizations.
One of the developments in which the former district superintendent was deeply interested was the professional growth of teachers in service. For years he played a prominent role in the organization of collegiate extension work for rural
and village teachers in Jefferson county.During the summer of 1929 Mr. Linnell took an extensive trip abroad, visiting Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. While on the trip, he devoted time to the study of organization and development of English elementary schools and visited
Eton, Oxford, and Winchester universities among other celebrated places.Active in civic and community affairs, Mr. Linnell had been a member of the Watertown Rotary Club since November, 1928, and was editor of The Bulletin, the club's weekly publication. He had also served as vice-president of the Jefferson
County Farm and Home Bureau Association, an office to which he was elected in January, 1937. He was a former president of the association of district school superintendents representing Oneida, Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Jefferson counties,
having been elected March 29, 1935.Mr. Linnell was also a member of the All Souls Universalist Church, the Brownville Masonic Lodge, the Watertown Grange and the New York State Teachers' Association.
On June 25, 1936, after announcement of his forthcoming retirement had been made, Mr. Linnell was paid a farewell tribute at a surprise dinner party held in his honor at the Cold Creek Inn. About 60 former classmates, pupils, and teachers
who had been associated with him attended.John B. Smith, former supervisor of the town of Watertown, who was graduated from the Norma School in 1888 in the same class with Mr. Linnell, was at the dinner as was Justice of the Peace John J. Barron, Three Mile Bay, who was president
of the board of education in that village when Mr. Linnell was given his teaching position in the high school there in 1888. The late Dr. R. F. Gates of Brownville, who was president of the Brownville board of education which hired Mr. Linnell
in 1895, drove nearly 175 miles from a medical meeting near Albany to be present at the dinner.Mr. Linnell married twice. On Dec. 27, 1888 he married Miss Harriet M. Wells, Three Mile Bay, daughter of Remus and Mary Ann Pomeroy Wells. She died Dec. 30, 1912. To Mr. and Mrs. Linnell were born two sons: H. Wells Linnell, veteran of
World War I, who was born Oct. 3, 1889, and Don Clifford G. Linnell, who died July 2, 1926 at Mount Vernon at the age of 35. The latter, also a veteran of the first World War, served in France as a first lieutenant in the 603rd Engineers.On Oct. 7, 1914 he married Miss Clara Wells, Limerick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Wells and a cousin of his first wife. She survives.
Mr. Linnell purchased the home in which he lived on TenEyck Street from the estate of the late Mrs. Clara S. Lawyer in April, 1919. At the time, he had
1 CMNT Cousin Of First Wife
Obituary (from newspaper of 11 April 1945): Mrs. Clara Wells Linnell, 86, widow of William J. Linnell and resident of Watertown for about 26 years, died this morning at 4:30 at her home, 309 TenEyck St., after an illness of five weeks.Mrs. Linnell, resident of Limerick the greater part of her life, was stricken with a heart attack March 7, and had since been ill at her home. Her death resulted from an embolism she suffered March 10.
Prior to the illness which began March 7, Mrs. Linnell was unusually active and attended church services the Sunday before.
Her husband, who died at the TenEyck St. home June 8, 1943, at the age of 80 years, was superintendent of the second supervisory school district of Jefferson county for 24 years until his retirement in 1936. Actively connected with
educational work for 54 years, he was widely known throughout northern New York and the state as an educator and an authority on rural school systems.Funeral services for Mrs. Linnell will be held Friday afternoon at 2 at the home. Rev. Dr. Harold H. Niles, pastor of the All Souls Universalist Church, will officiate. Burial will be made at Dexter.
Surviving her are a step-son, H. Wells Linnell, 309 TenEyck St., and nephews and nieces.
Mrs. Linnell was born at Three Mile Bay Dec. 30, 1858, a daughter of Gilbert and Nancy Klock Wells. Her parents died when she was a child and she then moved to Limerick, where she lived with Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Moffett, Mrs. Moffett being
an aunt. She was educated in public and select schools.Until 30 years ago Mrs. Linnell resided at Limerick, where on Oct. 7, 1914 she was married to William J. Linnell, then of Brownville. The late Rev. Dr. Harry Westbrook Reed, then pastor of the All Souls Unversalist Church, performed the
ceremony.Mr. and Mrs. Linnell resided at Brownville until 1919 when they came to Watertown, establishing their residence in the TenEyck St. home.
She was a member of the All Souls Universalist Church and a former member of the LeRay de Chaumont Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Obituary (from newspaper of Wednesday, 9 June 1943): William J. Linnell, 80, of 309 TenEyck Street, superintendent of the second supervisory school district of Jefferson county for 24 years until his retirement in 1936, died at 5:30 Tuesday
afternoon at his home after a serious illness of about six weeks. Death resulted from leukemia, a fatal blood disease.Funeral services will be held at the family home Friday afternoon at 2:30. Rev. Dr. Harold H. Niles, pastor of All Souls Universalist Church, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Dexter Cemetery.
The retired educator who had been in declining health for months, was first stricken with influenza. Later, his illness was diagnosed as leukemia, a disease charcterized by a marked increase in the number of white blood corpuscles.
On May 21 he was removed to the House of the Good Samaritan, critically ill, and underwent a blood transfusion May 25 and another on May 29, but hope for his recovery was finally abandoned. At his own request, Mr. Linnell was removed to
his home from the hospital last Sunday and he failed rapidly until his death.Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Clara Wells Linnell; a son, H. Wells Linnell, Limerick; a granddaughter, Miss Madeline C. Linnell, Limerick; a brother, J. Marshall Linnell, Clayton, and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mayer, 124 South Indiana
Avenue.Mr. Linnell, who was actively connected with educational work throughout northern New York and the state as an educator and an authority on rural school systems.
William J. Linnell belonged to that pioneer group of teachers of the '80s and '90s who "boarded around" while teaching in rural schools for as little at $12 a month and board. Hundreds of persons still residing in Jefferson county and
others who formerly resided in this county received instruction from him, at one time or another during his long career.In an interview while he was attending a convention of the Association of Academic Principals in Syracuse in December, 1926, Mr. Linnell reminisced interestingly of his early days as a teacher and told how, in the fall of 1880, he went to
Clayton to take over the district school. His salary was $12 a month. He "boarded around" at various houses in the village."They always gave you the spare room, which in winter was as cold as ice," he recalled, with a smile.
There were about twelve pupils in that class back in 1880. At least three of them were older and stronger than the teacher and several teachers before Mr. Linnell had been obliged to give up the school because they were unable to maintain
discipline, but Mr. Linnell recalled that he seldom had trouble with boys over 16.The second year he taught school his salary was raised to $20 a month, with board. His third year, however, he received $28 a month, but provided his own board and lodgings out of that salary.
Mr. Linnell maintained that children in rural schools gain more from their early education than children in the city. Country children, he held, were more resourceful and accustomed to manual labor, thus being able to meet emergencies
better.William James Linnell was born in the town of Clayton Oct. 18, 1862, one of four children of the late George D. and Elizabeth Gray Linnell. He was a brother of John Marshall Linnell of Clayton; the late George Merton Linnell and Mrs. Earl
A. (Elizabeth) Mayer of Watertown.George D. Linnell, his father, was a native of Brownville and was a farmer and teacher. His wife, Elizabeth Gray, was born at Clyde, N.Y. Both were buried in the town of Clayton.
Mr. Linnell received his first instruction in a rural school in district No. 14 in the town of Clayton after which he attended the select school of Clayton Center, a private academy which gave instruction in all common branches. He then
attended Ives Seminary in Antwerp.Only 18 years old, he began his career as a teacher in a town of Clayton rural school in 1880. After gaining some practical experience in rural school teaching, he entered the Potsdam State Normal School at Potsdam to more adequately
prepare him for his career and he was graduated in 1888. He completed his three-year course of study in two and a half years. Prior to his graduation, he had taught for two years in Boone county, Ill., rural schools.Graduated from the Normal School, Mr. Linnell taught at the Three Mile Bay Union School and served as principal there for four years. His next position was the principalship of the Chaumont High School, a post he held until 1895, when he
became principal of the Brownville school.Under Mr. Linnell's administration, the Brownville-Glen Park High School received its charter as a union school. At the time he began his duties in the Brownville institution, it was practically a rural school. Organized as a Union
school by Mr. Linnell in 1896, the school was in 1897 admitted to the University of the State of New York as a Union Free School with an academic department.Although a school principal and a graduate of the Normal School, Mr. Linnell became a student of the Brownville School while he was its head and he was graduated in the high school class of 1901. The four others in the class included
Harold Galloway, Irving Lewis, Lena Pratt, and Bessie VanAntwerp. He remained as principal of the school until 19 .Subsequently, Mr. Linnell was chosen county school commissioner of the third district of Jefferson county and he served in that capacity for years until the position was abolished.
At the expiration of his service as school commissioner in 1912, he was chosen school superintendent of the second supervisory district of the county. A new system was set up whereby the county was divided into six supervisory districts
and Mr. Linnell was selected to be superintendent of the second, having supervision over all of the schools in the territory.The second supervisory district includes the towns of Adams, Rodman, Rutland, and Watertown, embraces a total of 37 schools, three of them high schools, and at the time of Mr. Linnell's retirement in 1936, employed 83 teachers.
When he first began service as superintendent in 1912, Mr. Linnell's salary was $1,200 a year. Gradually, the salary was increased until he received $3,000 annually.
The late Donald A. Wright of Carthage was elected superintendent of the second supervisory district of the county May 7, 1936 to succeed Mr. Linnell, who had held the position continuously for 24 years. On July 31, 1936 Mr. Linnell
retired from active service on an annual pension of about $1,525 and the next day Mr. Wright, his successor, assumed office. Mr. Linnell continued to reside at 309 TenEyck Street.While serving in the capacity of school commissioner, he substituted for a time as principal at the Cape Vincent High School. As a result, Mr. Linnell had the distinction of having taught in every high school on the Cape Vincent branch of
the New York Central Railroad between Cape Vincent and Watertown.About 1880 Mr. Linnell with School Commissioner D. D. T. Marshall was active in organizing the Jefferson County Teachers' Association, which became one of the largest of its kind in this state.
Mr. Linnell annually attended the convocation of the University of the State of New York and over a period of many years, he did not miss a convocation.
A familiar figure at practically all of the teachers' conferences and meetings of the teachers' associations held in the northern section of the state during his active career. Mr. Linnell identified himself with every movement undertaken
to improve the standards of the teaching profession.He was instrumental in organizing the Jefferson County Teachers' Association and at various times during his long career he served as an officer in a number of educational organizations.
One of the developments in which the former district superintendent was deeply interested was the professional growth of teachers in service. For years he played a prominent role in the organization of collegiate extension work for rural
and village teachers in Jefferson county.During the summer of 1929 Mr. Linnell took an extensive trip abroad, visiting Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. While on the trip, he devoted time to the study of organization and development of English elementary schools and visited
Eton, Oxford, and Winchester universities among other celebrated places.Active in civic and community affairs, Mr. Linnell had been a member of the Watertown Rotary Club since November, 1928, and was editor of The Bulletin, the club's weekly publication. He had also served as vice-president of the Jefferson
County Farm and Home Bureau Association, an office to which he was elected in January, 1937. He was a former president of the association of district school superintendents representing Oneida, Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Jefferson counties,
having been elected March 29, 1935.Mr. Linnell was also a member of the All Souls Universalist Church, the Brownville Masonic Lodge, the Watertown Grange and the New York State Teachers' Association.
On June 25, 1936, after announcement of his forthcoming retirement had been made, Mr. Linnell was paid a farewell tribute at a surprise dinner party held in his honor at the Cold Creek Inn. About 60 former classmates, pupils, and teachers
who had been associated with him attended.John B. Smith, former supervisor of the town of Watertown, who was graduated from the Norma School in 1888 in the same class with Mr. Linnell, was at the dinner as was Justice of the Peace John J. Barron, Three Mile Bay, who was president
of the board of education in that village when Mr. Linnell was given his teaching position in the high school there in 1888. The late Dr. R. F. Gates of Brownville, who was president of the Brownville board of education which hired Mr. Linnell
in 1895, drove nearly 175 miles from a medical meeting near Albany to be present at the dinner.Mr. Linnell married twice. On Dec. 27, 1888 he married Miss Harriet M. Wells, Three Mile Bay, daughter of Remus and Mary Ann Pomeroy Wells. She died Dec. 30, 1912. To Mr. and Mrs. Linnell were born two sons: H. Wells Linnell, veteran of
World War I, who was born Oct. 3, 1889, and Don Clifford G. Linnell, who died July 2, 1926 at Mount Vernon at the age of 35. The latter, also a veteran of the first World War, served in France as a first lieutenant in the 603rd Engineers.On Oct. 7, 1914 he married Miss Clara Wells, Limerick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Wells and a cousin of his first wife. She survives.
Mr. Linnell purchased the home in which he lived on TenEyck Street from the estate of the late Mrs. Clara S. Lawyer in April, 1919. At the time, he had
Obituary (from Watertown Daily Times of 4 Aug. 1858/59): CLAYTON---John Marshall Linnell, 93, 328 Merrick St., former town of Clayton supervisor and Clayton mayor, died at his home yesterday afternoon at 3:30. He had been in ill health for a
year.The funeral will be Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Cummings Funeral Home, Clayton, Rev. Russell E. Little, pastor of the Clayton Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in Clayton Cemetery. There will be a Masonic service at 8 Tuesday
evening. Friends may call at the funeral home Tuesday from 3-5 and 7-9 p.m.Mr. Linnell is survived by a sister, Mrs. Earl (Elizabeth) Mayer, Watertown, and a step-daughter, Mrs. Edgar (Lulu) Dewey, Clayton. A brother, W. J. Linnell, died in 1943.
He was born at Clayton Center, Oct 31, 1864, a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Linnell. He attended area schools and spent his life in the Clayton area.
He farmed on his grandfather's farm on the Clayton Center Road during his early life. In 1908 he moved to Clayton. He was town supervisor of Clayton from 1934 through 1939 and served as village mayor for six years. He was a member of
the village board for twelve years.Mr. Linnell sold farm machinery at Clayton for six years and traveled for the International Harvester Co. for 19 years. He operated cheese factories at Brownville, Watertown, and Clayton and owned the Brownville plant for a time.
Mr. Linnell was a brother of W.J. Linnell who was superintendent of the second supervisory school district of Jefferson County for 24 years until his retirement in 1936.
When Mr. Linnell was supervisor of Clayton, he was chairman of the highway committee for two years. He served on the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power project, the equalization board and the tax rate and tax extension committees.
In 1939 he was given a testimonial dinner. Sixty business and professional men of the community attended.
Mr. Linnell was twice married. On Jan. 22, 1890, he married Miss Elizabeth Schnauber, Clayton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Augustus Schnauber. She died in 1938.
On March 13, 1940, he married Mrs. Nina E. Eddy Sears, widow of Thomas A. Sears, at the home of the bridegroom's brother, W.J. Linnell, 309 TenEyck St., Watertown. Rev. Dr. Harold H. Niles, pastor of All Soul's Universalist Church,
officiated. She died in November, 1941.Mr. Linnell was a member of the Masons, the Grange, and the Rotary. He was a 50-year member of the Masons. At one time he had a perfect attendance record at Rotary for nine years. He attended the Clayton Methodist Church.