1877

The Chapin family saved seven letters from the final year of the Reconstruction period. Notably among this collection are five letters sent by Champaign County Superintendent of Schools Calista Larned. Larned, née Blanchard, came from a Vermont family of teachers and likewise assumed the vocation. Among her 11 siblings, 10 became teachers. She would teach in Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Illinois. Over the course of her career, she taught the robber Baron James Fisk, the architect and sculptor of the Lincoln Tomb Larkin G. Mead, and UIUC Geology professor and father of sculptor Lorado Taft, Don Carlos Taft. Calista moved to Urbana with her husband Charles Larned in 1861 (Brink, McDonough & Company, 1878).

1877, the year in which Larned was elected to the Superintendent position, is the only year where correspondence between the Chapin Family and Larned has been kept. This collection of letters alludes to the Chapin family’s involvement in the early development of Champaign County’s Education System.

In her two April letters, Larned is mostly concerned about relaying the latest gossip from Champaign-Urbana to her friends that are now living in Vermilion County. She dutifully provides updates on the status of the old Chapin home, which remained unoccupied, and informs the family of how her daughter Mary is getting on with “Illini matters” at the new University in Urbana. 

In December of that year, Larned assumed the position of superintendent and meanwhile sent three letters to the Chapin family. In the correspondence, she discusses being sworn in and arranging her office, as well as mounting difficulty in her new job while not receiving commensurate respect, given the rank of her position. She also seems to take a keen interest in the youngest of Dorcas’ children. Larned frequently ends her letters by directly addressing Maggie or by inquiring after her.

In the other letters from this year, Maggie, who lives with Marcia, mentions looking for work now that she is 18, and the sisters note to their mother that their brother Harris must now provide for the family, following Dennis Jr.’s marriage earlier that year. Harris subsequently moves north to find employment to fulfill his familial obligations.