Eliza Emily Chappell Porter facts for kids

Eliza Emily Chappell Porter (born November 5, 1807 – died January 1, 1888) was a very important teacher and helper during the American Civil War. She is famous for being the first public school teacher in Chicago, at a place called Fort Dearborn. Eliza also helped start special schools for teachers, taught settlers and Native Americans on Mackinac Island, and cared for wounded soldiers during the war as part of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. She even helped enslaved people find freedom through the Underground Railroad and taught formerly enslaved people.

Early Life and Education

Eliza Chappell was born on November 5, 1807, in Geneseo, New York. She was the youngest of eight children. Her father, Robert Chappell, was from a family of French Protestants who had to leave France a long time ago.

When Eliza was very young, her mother passed away. Her father, who had many children to care for, sent Eliza to live with her niece, Mrs. Bower. Eliza was a bright child who loved to learn. She was even better at studying than her boy cousins and enjoyed playing outdoor sports with them.

By age twelve, Eliza returned home. When she was fourteen, she joined the Presbyterian church, which was important to her. At fifteen, she went to school in Rochester, New York. By age sixteen, Eliza was already teaching at a nearby school! She loved reading and believed it was very important to teach young children, even toddlers.

Teaching on the Frontier

Eliza became friends with missionaries who introduced her to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stuart. The Stuarts needed a teacher for their children. Mr. Stuart worked for the American Fur Company on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Eliza learned about the "Infant School" system, which was a new way to teach young children. In June 1831, she traveled to Mackinac Island to begin her new job.

At 22 years old, Eliza started teaching the Stuart children and other children on the island. She also taught at the mission. Being a new teacher was a lot of work, and she wrote in her journal that her time was not her own. She saw that many teachers, workers, and farmers were needed in the new frontier areas. She went back to New York to find more teachers and helped set up schools in St. Ignace, Michigan.

On June 19, 1832, Eliza wrote about her teaching success:

This day closes my third term, have had an examination in which the parents and friends of the school have evinced great interest. Could my dear friends at home have seen me surrounded by 54 (the present number of pupils) precious immortals, many of whom within nine months have learned to read and recite passages of scripture—could you have looked in upon us this morning, and followed us in our exercises I doubt not your hearts would have filled to overflowing.

Strong Beliefs

Eliza had very strong beliefs and a clear set of rules for herself. These rules showed how dedicated she was to her faith and helping others:

• To wake up early, before or with the sun.
• To spend an hour reading, thinking, and praying before leaving her room.
• To stay in prayer until she felt God's presence, even if it felt difficult.
• To ask herself if everything she did would bring glory to God.
• To carefully think about why she did things each day.
• To treat everyone as she would want to be treated.
• To never speak badly about anyone and to always try to do good.
• To set aside one day each week for private fasting and prayer.

Before teaching on Mackinac Island, Eliza had a serious illness. Many people thought it was a miracle she survived, and Eliza believed it was because of her strong religious faith.

Even with all the good she did, Eliza sometimes showed the common beliefs of her time. For example, she found it hard to understand why some Native American families were not interested in reading the Bible. She also described Catholic families on the frontier as living in "wretchedness and want," which showed her own views.

Chicago's First Public School

Eliza arrived in Chicago in June 1833, hoping to open a school by September. She started the school in a small log house that used to be a store. There were 25 students, and they brought their own chairs. If they couldn't, simple seats were provided. There were no desks. Some students even paddled their canoes across the Chicago River to get to school! Eliza's only teaching tools were maps, a globe, Bible texts, hymn books, and pictures about geometry and astronomy.

In 1834, the school moved to the first Presbyterian Church in Fort Dearborn, located at Lake and Clark Streets. Eliza also started a special school that year to train future teachers. This "normal school" was for 12 girls who lived on the prairie.

Marriage and Family Life

Eliza married Rev. Jeremiah Porter on June 15, 1835. They had first met on Mackinac Island while discussing how to start a school.

After they married, the Porters moved around a lot. They lived in Farmington, Illinois, then Peoria, Illinois, and later Green Bay, Wisconsin. They returned to Chicago in 1858 when Jeremiah became a pastor there.

Eliza was often described as thin and not very strong. She suffered from nerve pain and lost most of her teeth, but she never lost her sense of humor.

Helping During the Civil War

When the American Civil War began, the Porters were living in Chicago and quickly joined the effort to help. As early as the summer of 1861, Eliza visited Cairo, Illinois, to help organize hospitals, give out supplies, and care for sick or wounded soldiers. In October 1861, Eliza became the office manager for the Chicago branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. This group collected food, medical supplies, and other items for military hospitals.

After the terrible Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Eliza realized she could do more good by being directly on the battlefield. In July 1863, she returned to Chicago to become an associate director of the Northwest Sanitary Commission, working with another famous helper, Dorothea Dix. Eliza spent most of 1862 in field hospitals where Jeremiah was serving as a chaplain.

After the Siege of Vicksburg, Eliza traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, she worked closely with Mary Ann Bickerdyke, another brave woman who helped soldiers. Eliza and Mary Ann managed all kinds of volunteer work in the field hospitals, like cooking, washing clothes, giving out supplies, and nursing the wounded during emergencies.

Eliza followed the U.S. Army to the Battle of Atlanta. She brought nurses from Chicago to help and continued her relief work as the Union Army moved through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. She also helped care for the wounded in Memphis and assisted at Huntsville Prison in Alabama.

Working for Change

Both Eliza and Jeremiah were active in working for social change. Jeremiah met Elijah Lovejoy, who was against slavery, at a meeting in Alton, Illinois. Eliza herself taught children and formerly enslaved adults during and after the Civil War. She started a school in Memphis for African-American children. She also helped found a school in Shiloh, Tennessee, for former slaves who were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

In Austin, Texas, Eliza started a Sunday school for children of formerly enslaved people. Someone who saw her teach said, "She [Eliza] would have a multitude of little black children packed close as their little wriggling bodies would permit. I seem to see her standing before them in that rude room upon that rough floor her beautiful eyes beaming, her whole face illuminated with love while every eye was fastened upon her face as she taught them of God and His laws, of Jesus and His love." She later started a kindergarten for African-American children in a missionary settlement in East Austin.

Eliza and Jeremiah were also active in the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. When they lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, their home was the last stop before enslaved people crossed into Canada to be safe. Eliza called it a "secret service before the Lord." One night, a man and his three small children arrived at their door in Green Bay. Eliza suggested hiding them in the church. For four days, they stayed safe in the church belfry until a sailboat could take them to a steamboat heading for Canada.

Besides her medical help, Eliza also spoke to many politicians, including Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., in 1863. She asked them to send sick and wounded soldiers home to northern hospitals more quickly. She told President Lincoln:

But it is not for the dead I plead, but for those who still live, and are suffering home and heart sickness in Southern hospitals. We ask that as you are giving furloughs to all veterans who are able and willing to re-enlist from the ranks, you will not forget the sick and wounded veterans, but extend furloughs to them also.
... President Lincoln, do you know that the holding of our sick in government hospitals, is doing more in some sections of our country to prevent re-enlistment, and weaken confidence in our government than all other causes combined?

Later Years and Frontier Work

After her work in the Civil War ended in October 1865, the Porters went to the "Mexican frontier" in Texas. They gave supplies to U.S. soldiers for the Sanitary and Christian Commissions. Eliza also opened a Protestant school there and taught until the autumn of 1866.

In 1868, the Porters returned to schoolwork in Brownsville, Texas, where Jeremiah became a pastor. In Brownsville, Eliza reopened the Rio Grande Seminary, a school for both boys and girls. After about a year, they returned to Chicago.

In 1870, Jeremiah was appointed Post Chaplain by the U.S. Senate and sent to Fort Brown, Texas. In January 1874, the Porters went to Fort Sill in the Oklahoma Territory, where Jeremiah was a chaplain for Ulysses S. Grant's command. Eliza taught the children of the soldiers, gathered the laundresses for lessons, and became a special friend to everyone who needed help.

In 1875, Jeremiah was transferred to Ft. Russell, Wyoming. By this time, Eliza's health was getting worse. After having malaria and pneumonia, her lungs were never the same, and living on the frontier became too difficult. She spent a lot of time away from her husband to avoid the cold winters. She would spend summers in Wisconsin or Michigan and winters in Florida, Texas, or California. Even though her health was failing, she stayed busy writing letters and reading with great interest.

Death and Legacy

Eliza caught a cold at Christmas in 1887, which turned into pneumonia. She passed away at the age of 80 on January 1, 1888, in Santa Barbara, California. Memorial services were held in Chicago on January 17, where many people shared their memories of Eliza Chappell Porter.

Porter's grave at Rosehill Cemetery

F. B. Perkins wrote about her:

Hers was distinctively a pioneer work; and she had in large measure the inventive and organizing faculties requisite for that. She was always reaching out after the as yet unattempted good. She was an enthusiast in new, better methods. ... To the end, hers was the attitude of a learner.

Mary Livermore, who also worked with the U.S. Sanitary Commission and fought for women's rights, said Eliza was known for her "uniform gentleness and untiring diligence." She added, "What a power she was in the hospitals" and "It seems to me that her biography, like that of our Lord, may be condensed into one phrase, 'she went about doing good'."

Jeremiah continued to give lectures until just before he passed away in 1893.

Eliza Porter is buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

Her Children

Eliza Porter had nine children, and six of them lived to be adults. She had her first child at age 28 and her last at 44. When her youngest child was five, she started an elementary school on their property where all children were welcome. As her children grew older, they were sent to boarding school.

Eliza Chappell School

The Eliza Chappell Elementary School, located at 2135 West Foster Avenue in Chicago, was built in 1937 and is named in honor of Eliza Porter. A special plaque was also placed at the southwest corner of State and Wacker Streets in Chicago. This plaque remembers her as the founder of Chicago's first public school in 1833.