Henry H. Straight facts for kids

Henry Harrison Straight (born July 20, 1846 – died November 17, 1886) was an important American scientist and teacher. He was a geologist, a professor, and even the second president of Peru State College. He was also the father of a famous banker and diplomat, Willard Dickerman Straight.

Early Life and Education

Henry Harrison Straight was born on July 20, 1846, in Charlotte, New York. When he was young, he lost his parents and had to support himself. He worked on a local farm to earn money.

At just 16 years old, Henry started teaching at his first school. He earned $39 from three months of teaching. This money helped him attend the preparatory school at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Later, he studied at Cornell University and became a member of the Royal Geographical Society. He also did special studies at Harvard University and again at Cornell between 1875 and 1876.

Career as an Educator

From January 1871 to 1873, Straight became a science teacher. He also served as the second president (then called "principal") of Peru Normal School in Peru, Nebraska. The college had only opened six years earlier in 1865. Henry helped build a strong reputation for the young school. He took over from the first president, John M. McKenzie.

In 1873, he and his wife, Emma, who was also a teacher, joined the Science Department at Central Missouri Normal School in Warrensburg, Missouri. That summer, Henry and Emma attended a special program at the Anderson School of Natural History. This school on Penikese Island was for naturalists and science teachers. It was run by the famous Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz.

After returning to Missouri, Henry tried to use the scientific methods Agassiz taught. He combined them with his own teaching ideas from Peru. Henry worked at the college until 1875, when he and Emma both left. In 1874, he visited Penikese again. In 1875, he went on a geological trip in the mountains of Carolina and Kentucky. He traveled with Nathaniel Shaler, a Harvard professor and director of the Kentucky Geological Survey.

From 1876 to 1883, he taught at the Oswego Normal School in Oswego, New York. He was the head of the Natural Sciences department. In 1880, he also became head of the Practice School. By 1882, he was also in charge of the Psychology and History of Education departments.

In the spring of 1883, he taught at Cook County Normal School in Chicago. He worked with Col. Francis Wayland Parker, who was a leader in the progressive school movement in the United States.

From 1883 to 1884, he led the Industrial Science and Pedagogy (the art of teaching) sections at the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute.

In the fall of 1885, Henry's health began to decline due to an illness. He moved to Florida to try and recover. The following spring, he moved again to Pasadena, California.

Family Life

In 1873, Henry married Emma Dickerman (1850–1890). She was also a teacher. Emma was born in Beardstown, Illinois. Her father, Col. Willard Arms Dickerman, was a military officer who died from injuries during the Civil War. Emma was known as an artist who loved poetry, pictures, and beauty. Most of all, she loved people.

Henry and Emma had two children:

• Willard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918): He became a famous investment banker and diplomat. In 1911, he married Dorothy Payne Whitney in Geneva, Switzerland. Dorothy was from the well-known Whitney family. Her father, William Collins Whitney, was the United States Secretary of the Navy.
• Hazel Straight (1882–1922): She graduated from Vassar in 1905. In 1911, she married James Forest Sanborn. Hazel became a teacher at the Bradford Academy in Bradford, Massachusetts.

Henry Straight passed away on November 17, 1886, in California, after a year of declining health. His wife, Emma, also passed away shortly after him in 1890 from a similar illness. Before her death, Emma moved to Tokyo, Japan, where she spent two years learning Japanese and teaching at a Normal School there.

Like their father, Henry and Emma's children, Willard and Hazel, became orphans at a young age. Willard was only 10. They were cared for and educated by Dr. Elvire Ranier, one of the country's first female doctors, and her friend Laura R. Newkirk. These women were teachers and close friends of Henry and Emma.

Grandchildren and Legacy

Henry's grandchildren included:

• Whitney Willard Straight (1912–1979): A famous race car driver, pilot, and businessman.
• Beatrice Whitney Straight (1914–2001): An actress who won an Academy Award.
• Michael Whitney Straight (1916–2004): A writer and editor.
• Dorothy Straight Sanborn (1918–1947).

The Nebraska State Historical Society noted Henry Straight's lasting impact:

The success of Straight's career does not lie in his publications or even in the large number of students he influenced. Rather he was significant because he influenced other persons who themselves became educational leaders.

The Regents of the University also described Henry Straight's goals in their Annual Report:

His great aim during mature years was to bring science to the people, through which he believed better thinking and better living could be secured; hence he chose to work in normal schools, rejecting higher salaries and more honored positions in other educational institutions, hoping thus to train teachers who in turn would train the children and youth of our land.

This means Henry wanted to make science understandable for everyone. He believed science could help people think better and live better lives. That's why he chose to teach in normal schools (which trained teachers). He hoped to train teachers who would then teach children and young people across the country.