Jessamine Slaughter was a school teacher at Dakem, in “Little Russia,“ as the Russian-German district was known in Emmons County in 1892. She was the twenty-year-old daughter of the well-known Linda Warfel Slaughter and Dr. Benjamin Slaughter of Bismarck, Burleigh County, ND. Both her mother and sister taught in the Bismarck school district. In 1891, Jessamine was the first woman student enrolled at the North Dakota Agricultural College, (now NDSU), one of six students. She had received a scholarship from Burleigh County. She often wrote poetry about North Dakota that was published in the newspapers.
At Dakem, she taught the first English-speaking school. She wrote home that the people in the Russian colony, as she described it, were an industrious, religious, and kind-hearted type of people. She said they lived in primitive fashion, wore sheepskin garments, and burned straw for fuel. She noted that no one spoke English, but with a smattering of German, Swedish, and Norwegian words, she could make herself understood. The children came to school on their “schliddgs” a type of sled. She sent home a sketch of the house where she boarded, covered up to the eaves in snow, with just the windows peeping out from the drifts. She also noted that the women were very kind, and motherly, making her feel less homesick.
Typically, a teacher boarded with a family for $10 a term, for board, payable at the end of school. When Jessamine finished her school year with her host family she was presented with a bill, which documented every bite she took, counted every cup of coffee she drank, and noted when she had left uneaten food on her plate, throughout the entire school term. Her bill was for $11.25 cents, and had the dates when her uneaten food was given to the pigs and chickens, as silage, giving her a discount for the day. She paid her bill for the extra food, but later, related that it gave her pause that every morsel she had eaten for six months had been documented. She had fond memories, though, of her time at Dakem, and often taught extra school on Saturdays for her 18 students. When she left, the community was planning to build a new school house in the summer.
She also, later taught terms on Lower Beaver Creek and Emmonsburg, Winchester, Emmons County, and Weller, and Slaughter, in McLean County, ND. Dakem was located about 16 miles east of present-day Linton, ND, near Beaver Creek. Its Post Office closed in 1909.
In September, 1893 Jessamine journeyed to Chicago, alone, to see the World’s Columbian Exposition. She was a delegate as state Vice-President of the Women’s National Press Association. At her various school postings, she entered into many Debating Societies, and would argue on the question of women’s suffrage. Finishing up her school term at Emmonsburg, she went to Ft. Yates where she bought two fine saddle horses, and alone, rode them back to Bismarck, a fifty-five mile trip that she made in eight hours.
Jessamine Southern Slaughter was born at Camp Hancock, Burleigh County, Dakota Territory on 23 December 1873. She married Joseph Burgum around 1894. She died 11 March 1962 in Arthur, Cass, ND. A women’s dormitory at NDSU was named Burgum in her honor. (The University declined to name it Slaughter Hall, afraid it would be known as Slaughter House.)
As a young teacher in Emmons County, she was accomplished, well-educated, and was typical of many forward-thinking women of her era.
Pioneer Schoolroom: Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Burgum. We dedicate it to all hard working groups of church women everywhere. THE LADIES AID If the church needs re-shingling, Decorating, nails or paint, Or a mortgage to be lifted, Who will work without complaint? Or if notes are coming due, And must at once be paid, And money's tight, there's none in sight, Call on the Ladies Aid. Those faithful followers of our Lord, Who tax their brains and nerve, In lowly tasks, but lofty aims. They do not wait, but serve. And to these Mary's and Martha's, Our debt can ne'er be paid; Those intrepid workers in the Church, The faithful Ladies Aid. The above is from the History of Emmons County History - 1976 Jessamine's burial memorial is located here with a tombstone picture and links to her parents, husband, and their children. |