Eliza Kellas - Early Years

Early Years

Eliza Kellas was born on October 4, 1864 near Moores Forks in Franklin County, New York. She attended school in Mooers and Malone and began teaching at Malone in 1880 at the age of 16.

In 1887 Kellas began studies at Potsdam Normal School (now known as State University of New York at Potsdam) in Potsdam, New York. She graduated two years later and joined the faculty to teach in the Preparatory Department. Kellas left Potsdam in 1891 to accept a position as Principal of the School of Practice at Plattsburgh Normal School (now known as State University of New York at Plattsburgh) in Plattsburgh, New York. In 1895 she was named Preceptress (equivalent to Dean of Students). In the late 1890s Kellas studied briefly at University of Michigan and Sorbonne in Paris.

Kellas resigned from Plattsburgh after 10 years to become a governess to fellow a fellow pioneer in women's education in America, Mary Lyon. Kellas and Lyon traveled widely together between 1901 to 1905, when she entered Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from Ratcliffe in 1910.