Breckenridge, John Prof. -- 1834 - 1899

BRECKENRIDGE

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall (email)
Date: 8/5/2005 at 15:29:35

The people of Decorah were greatly shocked, last Friday morning, by the intelligence that Prof. J. Breckenridge suddenly passed away at his home in that city, the result of heart failure, without a moment's warning. He was 65 years of age and had been at the head of his normal school for 25 years. His death is a great loss not only to the school, but to Decorah as a whole. He was a good educator and a fine man in every respect.

-source: Postville Review, April 28, 1899

(transcriber is not related & has no further information)

Added by Joy Moore Sept. 21, 2020

Source: Decorah Republican Apr. 27, 1899 P 4 C 2, 3

Sudden Death of Prof. John Breckenridge.—A Whole Community in Mourning.
JOHN BRECKENRIDGE.
Again has this community been most forcibly reminded that Life and Death tend side by side, and that the passage from one over to the other is but a mere step, taken in a moment; and that it is ever a shock for which, despite its certainty, we are always unready.
The taking of Mr. John Breckenridge from the sphere of his labor and activity is such an event. The suddenness of the stroke brought with it intense sorrow, not to his immediate family only;—not to a community of which he was a valued member;—but to thousands of hearts in the county, the state, in fact, the whole northwest.
Although taken ill on Thursday afternoon by a sharp attack of a most dangerous malady—neuralgia of the heart —he had so well recovered on Friday morning that alarm had passed away. He had arisen, eaten some breakfast, made some pleasant remarks, and was left alone for but a minute or two. When his wife returned to him he was found on the bed, with his face in the pillow, and gone in the last death struggle. Assistance was called by telephone and medical aid quickly procured, but the summons was imperative; a summons we must all meet in due time; and the home, the school, the familiar places, the companions, associates and dear ones that had known him so long and well, will know him no more forever. During the winter he had a severe attack of the grip; but in a general sense there were few men of his years that enjoyed such robust health as he possessed
John Breckenridge was born in Ware, Mass. Oct. 26th, 1834, educated in the public schools of his native state, and was fitted for his life work in the Massachusetts Normal School. Subsequently be became a student in Charlotte Institute in eastern New York, an academical institution of much note in its day, in which he sought to perfect his education in mathematics and the classics.
Al{t}hough brought up on a farm nature seemed to fit him for, the work of a teacher, and he engaged in that occupation while securing his education. Coming west soon after attaining his majority he taught in Illinois and Wisconsin, and has taught continually until the day of his death—literally dying in the harness—excepting out only the two years he spent in the service of his country, as an enlisted member of the 8th Wisconsin battery. In 1866 he came to Decorah and was quickly employed as principal of the city schools, a place he continued to hold for three years, when he went back to Wisconsin, where he remained a couple of years, in 1871 he returned to Decorah again to take charge of public school; but not for long. The idea that fruited in Decorah Institute was already forming in his mind and in the fall of 1874 he began the labor which will be a monument—his continuing honor and glory—for long years to come,—as the head of an institution that has brought under his moulding hands thousands—literally thousands— of youth, upon whom he has fixed an impression such as few educators are permitted to make. Many who were students in years past—some of them green country boys when they came to him—are state superintendents of schools, county superintendents, teachers in colleges, academies, high schools us well as public schools, attorneys, doctors, clergymen, merchants and business men of other grades. These will acknowledge a debt they can never repay except by passing along to others some of the principles he so soundly instilled into their minds. But the grandest work Prof. Breckenridge did was not for those who have taken the advanced positions. It was the service he rendered to the hundreds upon hundreds of nameless ones—the backward boys and girls who had almost reached the stature of man- and womanhood, with no school advantages. In the Decorah Institute his wise methods were wonderfully helpful to all such, and as these old students, scattered all over the northwest, learn of the death of their favorite instructor there will be sincerest grief attested by words and tears.
Two brothers residing In Massachusetts, besides the immediate family of a wife, four daughters and one son survive him.
Funeral services were held Monday afternoon from the Congregational church, the pastor, Rev. M. Willett, officiating. The funeral cortege consisted of the members of the Masonic fraternity of the city and neighboring towns, members of Col. Hughes Post. G. A. R., and the students of Decorah Institute in numbers sufficient to entirely fill the main auditorium of the church. Other attendants occupied every inch of available space in the adjacent rooms and vestibules. The acting pall bearers were County Superintendent Haugen, County Auditor Masters, County Treasurer Nordheim, Attorney E. W. Cutting, Prof. Hook of West Decorah schools, and Alois Kovarik, the latter being now a teacher and the others graduates of the Institute in years past. The honorary bearers were L. L. Cadwell. E. Mather, R. F. B. Portman, C. W. Freeman, John Finn and Timothy Finn.
The music of the occasion was furnished by a quartette consisting of S. E. J. Holverson, J. J. Hopperstad, N. H. Adams and B. H. Adams. The remains were interred with the impressive service of the Masonic fraternity, of which deceased had long been a member. The floral offerings and display at the church were numerous and very handsome.
Tuesday morning on the assemblage of the students a memorial service was held in the institute auditorium, Rev. M. Willett and a number of former students who had come to attend the funeral were present and participated. The future of the Institute was discussed, and the hearty wish of all expressed that the work which has fallen from now lifeless hands and lips might be taken up by the family and carried on; that the Breckenridge Decorah Institute may continue to be an institution of genuine life and worth. The will of the deceased, filed Tuesday, made this legally possible and the task is accepted by the wife and daughters as a sacred duty. Regular sessions of the school were resumed Wednesday morning.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he died April 21, 1899. He is buried in Phelps Cemetery.

Phelps Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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