Comments on: Fielding Academy Catalog: LDS Education, 1902-03

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:39:37 +0000

Georgia, I reproduced the entire catalog except the list of students during the year 1902-03. I don’t even see a general “home ec”-type class in which sewing and dress designing might have been taught. They may have added other courses from time to time, of course, which may have been the case the year your grandmother was there. I don’t have access to the 1904 Fielding Academy catalog, nor to student records. The Church History Library happens to have this 1902-03 catalog but not a full run of the catalogs.

By: Georgia Campbell

Georgia Campbell — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:33:06 +0000

I have a copy of a certificate of Promotion from Fielding Acaemy for my grandmother dated May 31 1904. I was under the asumption that they also offered sewing and designing of clothes. I did not see anything on these pages. Is there a list of who attended this academy in the early 1900′s? My ancestors are The Law Family and the Perkins Family from Paris and Bennington.

By: Curt A.

Curt A. — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:50:37 +0000

On the school colors, blue and white, you can add another academy, Oneida Stake, forerunner to Preston (Idaho) High School. The academy song had a verse: “Praise the emblems of our power, hail the blue and white.” The song remains to this day as do the school colors. Their teams were named “Indians” then and that name is retained, even though what was then called the “Battle of Bear River” is now known as the “Bear River Massacre”, thanks to Brigham D. Madsen, among others.

By: Craig Passey

Craig Passey — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:32:07 +0000

I didn’t know any catalog’s remained and am extremely grateful for the insights. I have two Fielding Academy notebooks with a picture of the academy on the front. It is the reddish-brown cover that printers in the day called “red rope.” My father attended until fire destroyed the building in 1928. Another former student, David Orr, told me the fire was the result of spontaneous combution in a pail of oiled rags inside the front door. My father during the winter resided with other students in the Browning bldg (across the street from Paris Hotel), both built with money from the Browning Arms principles. During 1929 they met all over Paris for classes and had assemblies in the Novelty Theatre. Moved into the Fielding High School (now Paris elementary) in 1930. I have been told that the academy followed the Brigham Young academy architectural plans for Provo–now the Provo library. A teacher of note was Roy A. Welker who gave the keynote address at the valley’s centennial in 1963. A famous student was Arthur Shepherd who became a well-known composer popular in Europe and whose music has been recorded by BYU. A side note: local past historian, Pat Wilde claimed that Karl G. Maesar’s influence in the four academies with which he was involved resulted in each institution adopting blue and white as their colors–Utah State, BYU-Idaho, BYU Provo, and Bear Lake High School, the successor to Fielding Academy.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:31:18 +0000

Catherine, it’s nice to be part of a tender mercy once in a while.

Catalogs for other years at Fielding Academy are available at the library. I’ll see if I can find those that list your great grandfather and send you a scan of the page.

(This is at least the second time one of your comments has ended up in the spam filter for some unfathomable reason. Please know that I’ll always rescue them as soon as I can.)

By: CatherineWO

CatherineWO — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:08:46 +0000

Ardis,
I have been so busy working on family history stories the past couple of weeks that I haven’t been reading your blog regularly. What a surprise when I Googled Fielding Academy today and this post came up. My great grandfather, William Wallace Billings was a teacher and principal of the Fielding Academy sometime around 1899. He was called by Church leaders as a teaching missionary to work there for a couple of years. He and his wife, Maggie Greenhalgh, took eight children with them from their home in Provo, and one of those children, Florence, died in an acceident while they were there.
Thank you for all of this information! It is truly my tender mercy for today.
Catherine Wheelwright Ockey

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:43:32 +0000

Coffinberry

My grandfather retired in 1955. Still 20 years off?

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:15:27 +0000

No firearms, but with their forthright staredown of the camera, I can easily imagine some of those young men in front being perfectly willing to knock the hats off the heads of anyone who challenged them.

Great picture.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:00:51 +0000

Here’s another picture of the St. Johns Stake Academy (graduating class of 1911). Boy, they were a tough looking bunch! (But try as I might, I can’t see a single firearm. )

By: Maurine

Maurine — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:42:35 +0000

My grandfather and a friend rode their horses from Centerville Utah to Farmington Utah every day to attend the Farmington Academy.