Pauline Rice

I am the daughter of an educator. I was born 15 May 1829 to John and Jane Rice. My dad died when I was little and somehow, my mom managed to raise me up. I was educated at Greensboro College in North Carolina. I married 2 November 1851 David Porter Nelson. We had 5 children, 3 pre-deceased me.

Shortly after our first child was born we moved to Cairo, Illinois. That was in 1857, by 1859 and the birth of our second child we were in Texas.

I was a pioneer in the teaching profession in the state. I was one of the first women to hold a chair for the Coronal Institute in San Marcos, where I taught mathematics for a number of years before I transferred to the Female Academy in Seguin. I taught there for ten years. I went on to teach in other private and public schools.

I moved with my husband to San Antonio and our daughter, Fannie May's home in 1885. There I was surrounded by her family and then my grandchildrens families. Her daughter Vivia (granddaughter) and Viva's daughter, Cecile (great-granddaughter) were educators too. That made four generations of teachers.

I continued to teach in San Antonio and be an advocate for the education of our states young people until my death 1 May 1913. My two daughters had me buried in the Nelson-Ripley cemetery plot of the Confederate Cemetery in San Antonio.

Looking down on this world it pleases me to know that my efforts to educate will be remembered. San Antonio school system named an Elementary School for me shortly after I died. Many of the parents and children of the area supported the idea and the School Board named a school that was currently under renovation for me. My daughter Mollie was principal there until her death.

Images with utsa in the file name are from the John M. Steinfeldt Family Papers, 1819-1993, MS 35, Archives and Special Collections, University of Texas at San Antonio Library. Other photos in possession of family members. Other documents obtained from Court Records, digital images on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and microfilmed records.

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Research and website done by Tresa Tatyrek. This site was last updated 03/28/09