Hobart School, Hobart, Washington, 1909-1959

Hobart School

1909 - 1959

Hobart, Washington

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1919

Photograph courtesy of the Charles A. and Lydia M. Rough Archive

Hobart School Teaching Staff

1919-1920 School Year

L-R: Thelma Danger[?], unknown, Adelaide "Della" Wisniski[?], Daniel Johnston (Principal), unknown, Lydia M. Blenkinsop

Photograph courtesy of the Charles A. and Lydia M. Rough Archive

Lydia Blenkinsop's Class

1919-1920 School Year

Tallest girl in back: Louise Peacock

Front Row: 4th from right: Louie Flatebo[?], 3rd from right: George Oikari[?], 1st from right: Lester Evenson[?]

Photograph courtesy of the Charles A. and Lydia M. Rough Archive

Lydia Blenkinsop's

1919 Teaching Contract

Hobart School

Document courtesy of the Charles A. and Lydia M. Rough Archive

Lydia M. Rough, nee Blenkinsop

1894-1996

Photograph courtesy of the Charles A. and Lydia M. Rough Archive

        Lydia was born to John and Annie (Blewitt) Blenkinsop on 8 Jul 1894 in a row house at 13 Hannah Street in Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire, England and baptized a few blocks away at St. Paul's Local Mission Church. She and her parents lived with her maternal grandparents, Lydia & George Blewitt, and she was named for her grandmother. As a little girl she would going walking with her Grandpa George with the instructions, "If he is too tired to make it back, you sit him down and run back for help."

        A few blocks from her home, in 1899, Lydia started her formal education at Westbury Board School. Each morning the students would line up for inspection by the schoolmaster. If one's hands or shoes were dirty one was very likely to get "whacked". She also received education in her home. Her mother, Annie, taught her needlework and manners.

        On Saturdays Lydia would often walk with her mother down Westbury Street, past the five lamps landmark, over the Tees River via the Victoria Bridge, onto High Street, the main street in Stockton-on-Tees. There the market was held every week, and they would get their fresh groceries and other supplies. Sometimes when they were in Stockton-on-Tees they would walk to the Norton Duck Pond and feed the ducks.

        When her parents decided to immigrate to Seattle, Washington, the plan they developed would have her father, John, travel with her to America first. If the employment opportunities and schools were good then her mother, sister and brother, would follow. In December 1903, at age 9, Lydia and her father boarded a train for Liverpool. Just before she left her Uncle Charlie Blenkinsop gave her a silver watch as a gift. It had a key to wind it, which was inscribed with the word "Thornaby". From Liverpool they boarded the ship Umbria for New York. It was a very rough voyage and Lydia was very seasick. She would later joke, "I knew I was never in danger of dying, but I wanted to." They arrived in New York around December 18th. From there they caught a train bound for Seattle. The train ride took about seven days. In a little over a year Lydia's mother, brother and sister joined them in Seattle.

        At her new school the other children were interested in her life in the foreign land of England and not knowing any better wanted her to speak in her "native" tongue. She would mesmerize them by speaking to them in Pig-Latin.

        Lydia vividly remembered the excitement over the 18 Apr 1906 San Francisco earthquake, with newspaper boys shouting the news on the street. When Seattle decided Denny Hill was an impediment to city growth Lydia watched in awe as they washed the hill into Elliot Bay. On top of Denny Hill was the huge Washington Hotel. Seattle had slated it for demolition in early summer 1906 which they accomplished by burning it to the ground. From Capitol Hill Lydia watched the flames. The fire was so hot she could feel the heat on her face. Halley's Comet was very conspicuous in 1910-11 and Lydia was fascinated by it. She vividly remembered the comet and marveled at its long tail.

        As Lydia grew up the family lived in several Seattle homes, but primarily at 309 Belmont until 1912, 1211 E. Denny Way until 1915, and 1906 10th Avenue until she left for college in 1917. Lydia's cousin Lydia Crowder and her husband Harry owned what was known as a linen and fancy work shop where all sorts of supplies for hand work were for sale. When Lydia was in her middle teens she worked for the Crowders' a few hours, now and then, stamping patterns on linen and cotton for embroidery on doilies, pillow cases, and the like.

        Lydia attended Seattle's Broadway High School on Capitol Hill. She was an excellent student with an incredible memory. In 1917 she went to Washington State Normal School (now Western Washington University) in Bellingham, Washington, to get her teaching degree. Her first assignment in 1918 was in the tiny fishing village of Altoona, Washington, on the Columbia River. The next year she accepted a position at Hollywood School, north of Redmond, Washington. Here a man named Charlie Rough ("Rough" rhymes with "plow") came around one day to inspect the dairy products at the school and soon they started seeing each other.

Her next school assignment was at Hobart School. The town of Hobart, Washington, is about 12 miles southwest of Snoqualmie Falls. Soon after her Hobart teaching assignment ended she married Charlie Rough. Lydia and Charlie were married at her parent's home at 4506 Bagley Avenue, in the Wallingford District of Seattle. They took their Honeymoon Trip in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Lydia and Charlie owned the Brown Dairy Farm in what is now Lakewood, Washington, where they raised their three children. Lydia lived to be 101 years old.