Delaware County, NY Genealogy and History Site

This photo, marked "Bessie C. Howland" and "November 14, 1901," comes from the estate of Rena Ingram, who resided at Long Flat, Delaware County, from her birth in October 1889 until circa 1915. The photo measures 1.25" x 2", and it is mounted on card-stock. The photographer is identified as "Le Pressey's, 35 South Salina Street, Syracuse, New York."

Bessie was born 17 January 1878 in Walton, New York, the daughter of Smith C. Howland. The 1924-25 Walton Public Schools Annual Catalog mentions that Bessie was a member of the graduating class of 1895, and she received her Bachelor's degree from Syracuse University. During the early 1910s, she traveled throughout South America, working as a teacher on behalf of the Board of Foriegn Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. By 1925, she was working as a teacher in Cortland, New York, and by 1930, she had taken work as a college professor at a state college in North Dakota.