The location of Jacksonville’s first schoolhouse may be open to debate, but surely we know who was the town’s first teacher. Or do we? Rev. Thomas Fletcher Royal is credited with having established the first school in Jacksonville in 1853, albeit we’re not sure where.
One source says the school was organized by Royal’s sister, Mary Elizabeth Royal, and that Jane McCully, a trained schoolteacher who was the 3rd “proper” white woman to arrive in Jacksonville, was the first instructor. Another source says that Mary Elizabeth Royal was the teacher. However, Rev. Royal, in his journals, records renting a house from Col. John Ross “for a school and church purposes” where Rev. Royal’s brother, James Henry Bascom Royal, taught school one winter and spring (1854).
The following year the Oregon Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church accepted J. H. B. Royal as a member and assigned him the principalship of the newly formed Umpqua Academy at Wilbur, Oregon. Then Rev. Royal bought another house and turned the front room into a school. His sister, Miss Mary E. Royal (later Mrs. John Flinn), took over the teaching duties in Jacksonville and taught that summer and winter (1854-5). We’ll note that Jane McCully did open the first private academy in Jacksonville, but that was not until 1862. And John Merritt, another individual sometimes listed as the first teacher, became Jacksonville’s schoolteacher and principal in 1875. Who knew?