Frances McGaughey

Frances McGaughey's signature, 1869 (SCSU Archives)

Frances McGaughey, 1880-1889 (SCSU Archives)

Edgar and Fannie Martin headstone, Oak Mound Cemetery, Healdsburg, California (Find A Grave)

Edgar and Fannie Martin headstone, Fannie side, Oak Mound Cemetery, Healdsburg, California (Find A Grave)

Frances “Fannie” Grier McGaughey was born about 1848 to Hugh Ferguson and Jane (Walker) McGaughey in Pennsylvania. She was the fourth of their nine children. By 1850, the family had moved to McDonough County, Illinois, where they ran a family farm. They remained in Illinois for at least 10 years, but moved on to Winona, Minnesota, by the time she entered the Third State Normal School in September 1869.

In the school’s first commencement ceremony on June 30, 1871, Fannie delivered a culminating essay titled “Every Man Has His Price,” in which she asserted that many people cheapen themselves for personal ends instead of striving for the “highest price” of absolute perfection.

After graduation, Fannie taught in Minnesota before moving to Sonoma County, California, where she married a farmer named Edgar Martin on May 31, 1877. Their daughter, Edna Belle, was born two years later. The family operated a farm near Mendocino. Fannie continued to teach at a time when it was fairly rare for married women to continue pursuing their own careers, especially after having children. Around 1882, they moved to Santa Rosa to be closer to her sister, Dr. Anabel B. (McGaughey) Stuart. Shortly after moving, Edgar contracted a severe cold, tuberculosis, and heart disease and passed away on August 7, 1882. Fannie never remarried and raised Edna on her own, perhaps with Anabel’s support. She continued to pursue her own career and was an established attorney in Santa Rosa by 1908. She passed away on November 14, 1923 and was buried next to Edgar in Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg, California.