PROFESSOR GEORGE HENRY KELLOGG

Professor George Henry Kellogg, who is serving for the seventh year as county superintendent of schools of Cedar county, is accorded by the consensus of opinion on the part of the public and profession as one of the prominent educators identified with the educational system of this state. His labors have been attended by tangible results for elevating the standard of public instruction and making the system of teaching of more practical value in preparing the young for the duties and responsibilities of life. A native of Crown Point, New York, Professor Kellogg was born December 22, 1871, a son of E. T. and Florence (French) Kellogg. The father was born in Shoreham, Vermont, May 31, 1836, and the mother in Crown Point, New York, March 28, 1851. They were married on the 11th of January, 1871, and their family numbers two sons, George H. and Daniel N., the latter born November 20, 1873.

E. T. Kellogg was a senior at Middlebury College at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and, responding to the country’s call of troops, enlisted as a member of Company D, Fourteenth Vermont Infantry, and participated in the Gettysburg campaign and other important engagements. Much of his life was devoted to the profession of teaching and following his removal with his family to Iowa in the fall of 1877 he became principal of the schools of Monmouth, Jackson county, where he remained for two years. In the fall of 1879 he removed to Clinton county, taking up his abode on a farm in Sharon township, after which he devoted the summer seasons to farming and the winter months to teaching school. In 1880 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife. In 1882 he wedded Jennie Lee, a sister of his first wife, and in the spring of 1888 they removed to Cedar county, settling on a farm in Massillon township. He continued to carry on general agricultural pursuits until 1894, when he began merchandising in Massillon, conducting the business for about four years under the firm name of Hardy & Kellogg. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Massillon and served as Sunday-school superintendent throughout nearly the entire period of his residence there. Both he and his wife passed away in the same year, Mr. Kellogg dying in April and Mrs. Kellogg in September, 1899.

Professor George H. Kellogg of this review was only six years of age when his parents removed to Iowa and his primary education was largely acquired in the rural schools of Clinton and Cedar counties, during much of which time he was under the instruction of his father. He also studied to a considerable extent at home and for a brief period was a pupil in the Clarence high school. Later he engaged in teaching after which he resumed his studies in Clarence in the fall of 1890. He attended the Iowa State Normal School in Cedar Falls in 1901, after which he obtained his state certificate. While pursuing his course there he was elected principal of the schools in Bennett and in November, 1903, was chosen county superintendent of schools, after which he resigned his position at Bennett to assume the duties of his present office on the 1st of January, 1904. He was reelected in1906 and again in 1908, so that he is the present incumbent. In the meantime he had further continued his studies under the direction of Cornell College and he was a member of the faculty of Cornell College during the summer school sessions of 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910.

Professor Kellogg has put forth most zealous, effective and earnest effort for the benefit of the school system of the state, and was elected first vice president of the Iowa State Teachers Association for the term of 1909-10. He has been an active member of the Northeastern Iowa Teachers Association and of the Southeastern Iowa Teachers Association, attending all meetings in both sessions since 1904. He received an equal vote with the county superintendent of Wright county for the presidency of the county superintendents’ section of the State Teachers Association in 1909but lost the position when lots were cast. His term of office in the position of county superintendent has been characterized by a continuous progress and by urgency on his part for the betterment of conditions in public schools. He has been instrumental in securing the erection of sixteen rural schools as well as several new high-school buildings, including the Durant high school, erected at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars; the West Branch at a cost of twenty thousand dollars; the Downey, at a cost of eight thousand dollars; Mechanicsville, at twenty thousand dollars; and the Lowden at fifteen thousand dollars. He has strongly advocated the employment of more efficient teachers at better salaries and during his administration salaries have increased about twenty per cent. He is a stalwart advocate of centralized rural schools and has put forth most effective effort along the lines of general improvement and progress in connection with the cause of public education in Iowa.

On the 28th of December, 1897, Professor Kellogg was married to Miss Minnie M. McIntire, a daughter of Ira N. and Emma McIntire, who for many years have been residents of Massillon township. Mrs. Kellogg was educated in the Oxford Junction high school, the Cedar Falls high school and through home study and assists Professor Kellogg in his work both in the office and at teachers’ institutes. Both are well known in social connections.

Mrs. Kellogg is a member of the Tipton Women’s Club, a literary organization for the support of the public library, and is president of the Cultus Club of Tipton. She is likewise a member of Elwood Temple, No. 140, of the Pythian Sisters and of the Tipton Chapter, No. 367, of the Order of the Eastern Star. Professor Kellogg belongs to the Knights of Pythias; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Cedar Lodge, No. 11, A. F. & A. M. of which he was senior warden for two years; and Siloam Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M. of which he has been most excellent priest. For six years he has served on the board of directors of the Tipton public library. He and his wife occupy an enviable position in the social circles where intelligence is regarded as a necessary attribute to congeniality, and theirs has been a potent influence along the line of intellectual progress in Cedar county.