101. 12 AMERICAN THOMASITES IN PAMPANGA & TARLAC

The American contribution to Philippine education began with the arrival of Thomasites – a band of American teachers who came to our shores in 1901, lured by a sense of adventure, prospects of employment in the exotic Far East. and a genuine will to serve and build a new nation. Here is a select group of these pioneering teachers who served in Pampanga and Tarlac.

**********

1. GEORGE N, ANDERSON, Arayat, Candaba

George N. Anderson’s commitment to advance education in the islands was so total, that when the school in Candaba was razed to the ground , the supervising teacher shelled out Php 500 from his own pockets as his contribution towards the rebuilding of the school. As a pioneer teacher in Arayat, Anderson put up an intermediate school to teach Grades 4, 5 and 6 students (a primary school was already up, that took in Grades 1-4 pupils). Established in 1909, the intermediate school would be named in his honor: Anderson Intermediate School, which operated under that name from 1909 to 1974. It then became Anderson Elementary School, offering complete Grades 1-6 classes. A fellow teacher by the name of Carrie E. Anderson taught in Arayat at the same time as George did; she may have been his wife.

2. ALFRED ARNOLD, Apalit, Arayat

Thomasite Alfred Arnold  was assigned as a primary school teacher to handle Grades 1 to 4 classes, in Arayat. He is well known for taking the extra step to win over Filipino officials who were indifferent to the idea of public education propagated by the U.S. The assiduous teacher organized and staged special programs of entertainment at his schools to interest the native town heads and gain their support and cooperation.

3. WILLIAM M. CARRUTH, Betis, Sta. Rita, San Simon

A young graduate of Cleveland, Ohio, William Carruth arrived in Betis in 1901 and was immediately besieged with problems---all the books in the school where he was supposed to teach were in Spanish. He wrote to the Dept. of Public Instruction for help, and soon, the right supplies arrived and school operations began to run smoothly—until he fell ill. But  Carruth carried on, even making himself available to teach geometry, algebra and physics at a teacher’s program in San Fernando. The Betis school was abandoned due to poor facilities and financial constraints.  Carruth, thus, moved to Sta. Rita, where he began anew to organize the primary school, plus 2 barrio schools. Faced with incompetent teachers and apathetic town officials, he finished his term in 1903, and then moved to San Simon. Carruth was an efficient, professional administrator, but the of support from his superiors and the community, perhaps wore him down to frustration. Carruth did not renew his 3-year contract and returned to the U.S.

4. W. HUSE CHAPMAN, Angeles, Zambales

W. Huse Chapman, of Connecticut, was a civil servant of the U.S. Bureau of Education and worked as a Thomasite teacher among the Negritos in the Philippines, in the Zambales region. He was deployed to Angeles, Pampanga as Supervising Teacher. While there, Chapman took an interest in photography and took ethnographic portraits, of  Negritos, their customs; activities; dwellings, structures and other material culture; and natural surroundings. Specific subjects include basket weaving, a burial, scarification, and a group of hooded self-flagellants. These 163 photos compiled in 1909, are in the Bancroft Library of the University of California Berkely.

5. ADAM C. DERKUM, Mexico, Tarlac, Zambales

Born in 1874, Adam C. Derkum studied and graduated from the University of Southern California. He was appointed to the civil service on 30 December 1903. On 1 March  1906,  Dr. Adam Derkum, together wife Agnes, were assigned to Mexico, Pampanga. He became a supervising teacher then rose in position to become  a Division Superintendent of schools in Zambales and Tarlac. He had a new building erected at a new location in 1915 after the Tarlac Provincial High School had incurred much damage wrought by usage and time. He also organized  training programs for students,  through teacher camps and educational missions. As part of the American effort to promote physical education and national fitness, Dr. Derkum help found the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, along with Manuel L. Quezon, Camilo Osias, Regino R. Ylanan and Jorge R. Vargas. He was chosen as President  and Chairman of the 1926 Pampanga Fair and Provincial Garden Day, This was to be one of  his last major activities as the Derkums and their four Philippine-born children, returned to America where they would spend rest of their lives in California.

6. LULU LONG HIGLEY, Bacolor

Born on 1 Oct. 1874 in Lagrange County, Indiana, Lulu Long-Higley and her husband Levi Campbell Higley (b. 1871/d.1959) taught together at Bacolor and at the Pampanga Industrial School. Lulu herself, taught industrial arts. Husband Levi was the assigned to an industrial school in Lipa, Batangas, and assumed the position of principal of the secondary school. Lulu Higley remained in Bacolor, where eldest son Phillips Isidors was born. When Higley returned to her husband’s home state, she gave birth to two more sons: Ralph and Erwin Isaac. She passed away in Genesee county on 21 Mar. 1951 at age 76, and she is interred with her husband at the county’s Springvale Cemetery.

 7. WILLIAM S. IREY, Magalang, Bataan

Pennsylvanian William Segner Irey was born in 1872, in West Chester county, an education graduate of West Chester State Normal College.  After a 13-year teaching stint in his home state, he would joined the contingent of teachers sent to the Philippines in 1901. He was stationed in Magalang, where he is credited with establishing the elementary school in the poblacion. Irey would be moved around Pampanga, living in Mexico and San Fernando, and also serving in Bataan as a 3^rd grade supervisor. Irey was also an inventor of some sorts; obtaining patents for such ingenious creations as a cigarette-producing machine, a cooking apparatus, change-speed gearing and  improvements to kerosene lamps.

8. KILMER O. MOE, Magalang

Upon arrival in the Philippines, Thomasite Kilmer O. Moe, from Hoople, North Dakota, was assigned to teach in Magalang. His interest in agriculture was piqued when the “Granja Modelo”, a pilot agricultural school founded in 1885 by Spaniards, and later renamed “Estacion Pecuaria” became idle. Together with Assemblyman Andres Luciano, Moe—now a district supervisor-- initiated its reconstruction in 1917. The Bureau of Education threw its support behind its reopening and Gov. Honorio Ventura donated more funds to aid the project. Thus, the Magalang Farm School was born. Moe was also involved in the restoration of the Central Luzon Agricultural School which opened in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija on 10 Jun. 1909. After suffering typhoon damage in November, Moe initiated changes such as the use of strong materials for the school buildings.  Additions included student dorms, a superintendent office, a house for American teachers, a machine shop and a sawmill. Kilmer O. Moe wrote many treatises about various aspects of Philippine farming, including rice and sugar planting.

9. JOHN W. OSBORN, Angeles, Magalang, San Fernando

John W. Osborn is known for being the first principal of Pampanga High School in 1908, the most revered institution for secondary education in the province. PHS would produce  a president,  eminent scholars, writers, politicians, military leaders, lawyers, and builders of  our nation. Osborn was from Bringhamton, New York,  a 1901 graduate of Western Reserve University, Ohio . Before his assignment in the capital town, he was minding the affairs of the elementary schools in Magalang (1904) and Angeles (he rented the ground floor of the Gomez/Masnou House with Marion Huff, another Thomasite). PHS originally was located at the Eusebio Residence located near the town plaza, with classes opening in 1908. Enrollment was so low that it was unable to form a senior class until 1911-1912. As student population grew, the school was transferred to a new building near the Provincial Capitol. It was Osborn who chose future Justice Jose Gutierrez David to deliver a speech before  Secretary of War, William Howard Taft and presidential daughter Alice Roosevelt, during their visit to San Fernando in 1904. In his unpublished memoirs, Justice Gutierrez recalled that “Mr. Osborn  was quite satisfied and elated judging from the manner he congratulated me. For me, that was enough”.

 10. LUTHER PARKER, Masantol, Arayat, Bacolor

The most high-profile Thomasite Pampanga, Luther Parker was born in Missouri to James R. and Mary C. Parker, in 1872. A graduate of the State Normal School in Chico, California, he arrived in the Philippines  in 1901, and served in the Bureau of Education for twenty-five years, the last 7 years as division superintendent of schools. His first assignment was Masantol, then in Arayat as Supervising Teacher, and the town postmaster. He was also a regular contributor of articles for Manila Times. Parker’s accomplishments included writing a “Diccionariong Ingles, Kapampangan at Kastila," in 1905, studying Philippine linguistics, and initiating the writing of town histories. Parker became the Principal of the Bacolor Trade School in March 1907, as well as General Inspector of school shops in the country. He was assigned from 1914-1916 in San Francisco to oversee the  Philippine exhibit of school industrial work. For his achievements, Kapampangan officials proposed to adopt Parker as a son of Pampanga province. Parker also served in Pangasinan  ( 1918, promoted food production campaigns and gardening), Ilocos Norte,  (1921, organized Bands of Mercy , mainly a children’s group that championed kindness to animals) and Nueva Ecija (1922-26). He retired and lingered in the country until 1931, when the Parker family left the country for good. The Parkers took up residence in Santa Cruz, California. He passed away in 1948. His collection of pictures, memorabilia, albums of clippings are kept in the University of the Philippines.

11. CARROLL A. PEABODY, Mabalacat, Tarlac

Thomasite Carroll Peabody, a fresh graduate of Western Reserve University in Ohio, was first assigned to Mabalacat in 1902 where he became a “maestro Americano” , teaching his Kapampangan pupils in nipa and bamboo classrooms.  He later  became a supervisor, then a Division Superintendent in Tarlac. His wife, Emma, was also a teacher. Also assigned there was Joseph L. Flaherty, a Supervising Teacher as of 1906. Peabody documented the hardships of setting up schools and keeping them running despite inadequate supplies (billiard cue chalk were sometimes used as blackboard chalk), in his unpublished memoirs, “Personal Reminiscences of Early Days, 1898-1902”.

12. FRANK RUSSELL WHITE, Tarlac

Thomasite Frank Russell White  was born in Millburn, Illinois on 8 June 1875. He has the singular distinction of opening the first provincial high school in the Philippines—Tarlac High School on 1 Sep. 1902—and was its first principal. The high school had an initial enrolment of 35 students which grew to 93 before the end of that year. White served for 2 months, and then appointed Division Superintendent for Tarlac province. The high school he founded would have a permanent 2-storey building of  Oregon pine, a 76 feet long and 42 feet wide. It was built though the initiative of his successor, Mr. S.C. Campbell,  at a cost of Php 48,000. It opened in 1904. White rose to become the 4^th Director of Education of the Philippine islands, but died an early death due to an illness on 17 Aug. 1913.  Unfortunately, the heritage building was razed by fire on 28 Oct. 2015. For years, tales of a “white ghost” haunting the high school were often heard—but this must have been simply a reference to the teacher who made history in Tarlac—Mr. Frank Russell White.

A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THOMASITES ASSIGNED TO PAMPANGA & TARLAC

Albright, Henrietta M., Tarlac, Tarlac

Anderson, Carrie E. Arayat, Pampanga Intermediate

Ansbro, Lucinda, Tarlac, Tarlac

Bass, James H. Apalit, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Briggs, George N. Surigao, Surigao, Cagayan and Misamis; San Fernando, Pampanga and Bataan Division Superintendent

Campbell, S.A. Tarlac, Tarlac; Cavite Division Superintendent

Carleton, Charles W. Bacolor, Pampanga Industrial School

Derkum, Agnes M. Mexico, Pampanga Intermediate School

Flaherty, Joseph L. Mabalacat, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Franke, Walter E. Florida-Blanca, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Gambill, J.M. San Fernando, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Gammill, J.A. Iloilo, Iloilo andAntique; San Fernando, Pampanga and Bataan Superintendent

Gascon, Osmond Guagua, Pampanga In Charge Barrio School

Higley, Levi C. Bacolor, Pampanga; Lipa, Batangas Industrial School; Principal

(Secondary school)

Howard, Joseph G. Apalit, Pampanga Industrial School

Huff, Marion Bacolor, Pampanga Industrial School

Manns, Alys E. San Fernando, Pampanga Provincial High School

Manns, Thomas F. Balanga, Bataan; San Fernando, Pampanga Principal, High School (in charge)

Mayo, William L. Tarlac, Tarlac Provincial High School

McGee, Fannie, Tarlac, Tarlac

Preuitt, William E. San Fernando, Pampanga and Bataan Superintendent

Reimold, O.S., Tarlac, Tarlac

Rudy, Abraham Macabebe, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Russell, Florence E. Tarlac, Tarlac Provincial High School

Russell, H.C. Laoag, Ilocos Norte; Tarlac, Tarlac Principal, High School

Shearer, Lucy B. San Fernando, Pampanga Provincial High School

Vaughan, William T. Candaba, Pampanga Supervising Teacher

Williamson, Katherine P. San Fernando,Pampanga Provincial High School

Young, Katherine M. San Fernando, Pampanga Provincial High School

SOURCES:

Alan Derkum, Carroll Peabody, John W.Osborn : www.viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com

Lulu Long-Higley: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25692851/levi-campbell-higley

Frank Russell White: http://www.tarlachs71.com/about_tarlac_high_school.php, 

Photo of Kilmer O. Moe's calling Card: Doris Manlapaz, Magalang Historical Society

Photo of Luther Parker in Arayat: John Tewell, flickr.com

Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 25. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/acp1028.0001.025?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Dizon, Lino L., Mr. White, A Thomasite History of Tarlac Province 1901-1913, in Honor of Frank Russell White. Published by the Center for Tarlaqueño Stduies and the Center for Kapampangan Studies, 2002.

Larkin, John A. The Pampangans,: Colonial Society in a Philippine Province © 1972 The Regents of the University of California, 19913 Edition by new ay Publishing. Pp.143-157.

Gutierrez-David, Jose. The Story of my Life, unpublished memoirs