Ada Sprague Ballou, College Graduation Photo from Madison (SD) Normal School, June 20, 1889
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|------Charles Samuel SPRAGUE (1838, Ohio - 1922, South Dakota)
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Ada Lemora SPRAGUE (1867, Iowa - 1959, South Dakota)
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| |--------James MATTHEWS (1779, Virginia - 1837, Indiana)
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| |---------Tunstal Quarles MATTHEWS (1807, Kentucky - 1878, Nebraska)
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| | |--------Margaret REED (1784 - 1824, Ohio)
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|------Lucinda MATTHEWS (1844, Indiana - 1918, South Dakota)
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|---------Harriet STONE (1808, New York - 1895, South Dakota)
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When she was 18 she took a teacher's exam at Huron, SD. She taught in a new school with 19 pupils. Several schools near her home were built that year and she may have taught in one of them. She taught until she entered Madison Normal School, interrupting her studies to teach again. She graduated from the three year normal program on June 20, 1889. She taught the Esmond village school in 1888, Esmond #3 from October 20, 1890 to January 9, 1891, and in other schools.
During the spring of 1891, she taught at Denver Township school district #45 in Kingsbury County. This school was located north of Hetland and just across the road from her future in-laws. She held a class in algebra after regular school hours for those interested, and encouraged her pupils to attend normal school.
Lyman Ballou was quite smitten with Ada. He had homesteaded a mile south of his parent's farm. When Ada took a position as the principal at Carthage, SD, in the fall of 1891, he diligently wrote letters to persuade her to be his bride. They were married December 30, 1891.
Ada and Lyman raised 7 children. She was active in the community and served on the district #44 school board from 1902 to 1909. She served as teacher in the Congregational Church in Hetland and was active in the Ladies' Aid. She belonged to the American Legion Auxiliary in Hetland.
She and Lyman moved into Hetland in 1926 and he became the secretary of the Denver Mutual Fire Insurance Company. When he died in 1935, Ada took over his duties, serving until she became partially blind at age 77 in 1944. Because of her blindness, Ada spent much of her time crocheting rag rugs. She also broke her hip. When her sons Alvin and Harrison died in 1956, women were hired to stay with her. She also spent several winters with Tora Nelson in Badger, SD, where she died in 1959. Her funeral services were held in the Hetland Congregational Church.
Ada was one month older than the author Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Sprague family settled in the same area of South Dakota as the Ingalls. Iroquois, the town near the Sprague's homestead, was about 10 miles west of De Smet. Hetland, where Ada and Lyman moved to, was about 10 miles east of De Smet. De Smet is the setting for the last 4 of the ``Little House'' books, starting with ``By the Shores of Silver Lake.'' Like Ada, Laura Ingalls Wilder was also a teacher in the small schools in that part of South Dakota before she married. (Laura had started teaching at couple years earlier than Ada.)
Sources for this individual: @S405@
