Person:Sallie Stockard (1)

Notes from Stockard Family Tree, RootsWeb, WorldConnect - John and Donna Stockard:

Sallie Stockard was the first female graduate of the University of North Carolina (1898) an d the first female to receive a master's degree (1900) from that institution. She was the author of several historical books. She was a teacher in North Carolina, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. She was quoted as saying, "I have fought ignorance and filth of all sort s on the western frontier." In 1923, she moved to New York City and received a second master's degree from Columbia University. She built a home on Long Island and continued to write and publish She died at the age of 93 and was buried in Greenfield Cemetery, Hempsted.

The following is info written by Sallie's daughter, Ione Magness Kilmer (Mrs.. Wendell Kilmer, to John Gentry Stockard, Jr.. on Sept. 17, 1971:

"My mother's father was John Williamson Stockard (1837-1924. When my mother passed away in 1963 we found among her things many pages she had written, some years earlier, about her early days in North Carolina, about the old family homestead where she was born and spent her childhood. This old home still standing in south Alamance County, was built in 1828 by her Great-Grandfather, William Johnson. Ancestors had homes there, even one long house built in 1736. "Ever since Indian days this land comprising 600 acres of wooded hills and farming fields had belong to my fore bearers, having been ceded to them by the Lords Proprietors of King Charles the Second." Yes, the old family cemetery is there too. These great-grandparents, the William Johnsons, had two daughters and a son. The daughters married Stockard brothers: Julia Ann Johnson married Samuel Stockard (John Williamson Stockard's parents) and Polly Johnson married Gibbs Stockard. ("These brothers were sons of Colonel John Stockard who served in the War of 1812.")."

"From these papers of my mother's I put together a book of approximately 100 pages or so (not yet published) which I call "Daughter of the Piedmont: Chapel Hill's First Coed". My mother (maiden name, Sallie Walker Stockard) was the first woman to graduate from the University of North Carolina (1898)."

"We have her sheepskin diploma written entirely in Latin and signed not only by the University President but by all her professors (more than 25). I have considered publishing my mother's book privately but I have been hesitant to do so, since I've no use for more than a few copies."

"No doubt you (meaning John Gentry Stockard, Jr..) have the Stockard coat-of-arms. I have a photograph of this and a description (much of it in French) which may have come fro Internat'l Heraldic Institute, 1110 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. ("The ancient seat of this family was in Germany".). One of my mother's sisters, Miss Jessie Stockard of Salisbury, N.C., (now deceased) had the coat-of-arms in color and my husband copied it photo-graphically (in black and white). I recall my Aunt Jessie having had correspondence with Prof. A.H. Stockard at the University of Michigan. She was an elementary school teacher. Prior to her death (also 1963 some came to visit her "because you taught me to read 50 years ago."

"I have our genealogical record back to the days of the Revolution, but this traces our maternal grandparents' side of the family, the Albrights, not the Stockards."

"The old homestead is no longer owned by the family. My brother, Scott Albright Magness, has seen it, but I have not. It fascinates me."

Sallie Stockard Magness was a school teacher. Prior to the 1920's, they lived in Texas and Oklahoma. Sallie's son, Scott, was born in Arkansas.