Millicent Kittredge Blake

Millicent Kittredge Blake (alternate spelling, Meliscent; née Millicent Kittredge; January 11, 1822 - November 27, 1907) was an Oakland, California pioneer, and an American educator from the U.S. state of New York. She founded the Oakland Female Seminary (aka Oakland Seminary for Young Ladies; Blake Seminary) on November 8, 1858.[1] It was the first girls school established to the west of the Mississippi River.

Millicent Kittredge Blake

Her birthplace was Essex, New York, upon historic Lake Champlain. She is a descendant on the maternal side, of Cotton Mather, and of those physicians who bear the name of Kittredge.[2] She married George Mansfield Blake, mayor of Oakland, and business partner of her brother, Francis Kittredge Shattuck.[3][4]

She studied and became a teacher. After a successful management of private schools in her native State, she came to Oakland in 1852, and as soon as its growth warranted the venture, her seminary for young ladies was opened. Although discouraged by friends, who considered success impossible in so new a country, Blake kept steadily on, and eventually succeeded in establishing her school.[2] For half a century, Blake was a paramount factor in the educational work of this county. Not only in her work of founding and maintaining the seminary, but also in the work of founding and upbuilding the University of California, and other western institutions of education.[5]

References
  1. University of the Pacific 1976, p. 163.
  2. Californian Publishing Company 1892, p. 9.
  3. Anderson 2015, p. 40.
  4. Comstock 2013, p. 32.
  5. Bronson & Hunt 1907, p. 44.

Attribution
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: J. R. Bronson & C. M. Hunt's The Grizzly Bear (1907)
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Californian Publishing Company's Californian Illustrated Magazine (1892)

Bibliography
  • Anderson, Gene (7 December 2015). Legendary Locals of Oakland. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-5405-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bronson, J. Rush; Hunt, Clarence M. (1907). The Grizzly Bear. Grizzly Bear Publishing Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Californian Publishing Company (1892). Californian Illustrated Magazine (Public domain ed.). Californian Publishing Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Comstock, Lyndon (16 December 2013). On Parker Street: The Evolution of a Berkeley Neighborhood 1855-1965. Lyndon Comstock. ISBN 978-1-4942-9484-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • University of the Pacific (1976). The Pacific Historian. University of the Pacific.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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