The Browne School Teachers - 1921/1924: Jennie Male

Following Olive Male who taught at the Browne school during the 1920 - 1921 school year, Jennie Male replaced her younger sister for 3 school terms:   1921 - 1922, 1922 - 1923 and 1923 - 1924. 

Jennie Male was born in Malta township, DeKalb county, Illinois on September 5, 1899 to Martha (Osmundson) and Ole Male.    Olive first appears in the 1900 US Census living (lines 23 - 29) with her parents and siblings Oscar, Peter and Ella as well as a boarder, Oley Tysdal.

The 1910 US Census lists Jennie living (lines 23 - 30) with her parents and siblings, Oscar, Peter, Ella, Olive and Laura.    The family was residing in Malta township, DeKalb county, Illinois.

Jennie attended the Calvary Lutheran Church in Milan township, DeKalb county and completed the confirmation process on October 13, 1913.

Jennie is seated in the front row, furthest to the left.

The 1920 US Census shows the Male family is still living in Malta township.   Jnnie was living (lines 32 - 38) with her parents, Ole and Martha and her siblings, Peter, Ella, Olive and an adopted brother, Roland Vollow.     The census indicates Jennie is not employed.

On page 3 of the October 21, 1921 issue of The DeKalb Daily Chronicle, an announcement was made for an upcoming Basket Social which would take place on October 28, 1921.    Jennie Male is mentioned as the teacher at the Browne school.  Note the 'e' has dropped off from the Browne name.

Page 4 of the September 20, 1922 edition of The True Republican published the names of rural school teachers for the year.     Jennie Male is listed under the Malta listing for the Browne school, #80.

Jennie Male made the newspaper again on page 6 of the September 13, 1924 edition of The DeKalb Daily Chronicle.   Jennie had donated books geared toward 1st - 8th graders to the Malta public library.     Most likely these books were used at the Browne school.    Jennie would have finished her last year teaching at the Browne school a few months earlier, either in May or June 1924.

The 1930 US Census lists Jennie living (lines 86 - 89) with her parents, Ole and Martha and adopted brother, Roland Vollow still living in Milan township, DeKalb county, Illinois.    It is interesting the census does not mention Jenny's employment as a schoolteacher.

Page 6 of the February 6, 1937 edition of The True Republican reported that Jennie Male was deemed insane and committed to the Elgin State Hospital.   Interestingly, mental illness was not necessarily a reason for someone to be committed to an institution.

In 1940, the US Census lists Jennie living with her father, Ole in Malta township.    I did not locate a census for that year in the town of Elgin; apparently Jennie's stay at the Elgin State Hospital was for a short time, if at all.

Jennie Male passed away November 5, 1993 in DeKalb, DeKalb county, Illinois according to her obituary.

The memorial for Jenny can be found here.