Irene Sarah Clark Durrell (17 May 1852 – 9 November 1914) was an American educator from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. She served as

preceptress A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female College, now known as Tilton School.

Early years and education

Irene Sarah Clark was born in

Plymouth, New Hampshire Plymouth is a rural New England town, town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States, in the White Mountains Region. It has a unique role as the economic, medical, commercial, and cultural center for the predom ...

, 17 May 1852. Her father was Hiram Clark. Until the age of 12, her education occurred at ungraded country schools. She was a pupil for a time in the village grammar school and in the Plymouth Academy. Taking private lessons of her pastor in Latin and sciences, and studying by herself, she prepared to enter the State Normal School in Plymouth (now

Plymouth State University Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students an ...

), where she completed the first course in 1872 and the second in 1873, teaching during summer vacations.

Career

In 1873 and 1874, she taught grammar school in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, In the fall of 1874, she became the teacher of the normal department in the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female College (now Tilton School), and a student in the junior year in the classical course. She was graduated in 1876. She then taught in the State Normal School (now Castleton University) in Castleton, Vermont. On 23 July 1878 she married Rev. Jesse Murton Durrell, D.D. She served as an officer and organizer in the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. For four years, she was district secretary and was a delegate from the New England branch to the Evanston general executive committee meeting. With her husband, in 1882, she took an extended tour abroad. In the spring of 1891, her husband became president of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female College, Durrell became the preceptress of that institution. She died 9 November 1914.

References

Attribution

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Durrell, Irene Clark 1852 births 1914 deaths Educators from New Hampshire 19th-century American educators People from Plymouth, New Hampshire Castleton State College faculty Plymouth State University alumni Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century 19th-century American women educators American women academics