This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
Are you a stressed-out parent who wonders how you are going to get son number one to play practice on time and still rush your daughter to volleyball in time to pick up son number two from Cub Scouts and get him over to Little League? Have I got a role model for you.
Newlyweds Charles and Mary Putnam settled in Davenport in 1854 and built a large house on the bluffs above the town. Here ten children were born, two of whom died in infancy.
The remaining eight had the benefit of parents passionately devoted to education, and a belief that learning begins at home. Charles had grown up on a farm and had taught himself to practice law by reading books. Mary was the daughter of a Governor of Illinois. Both dedicated their lives to their children. The children had their own printing press on which they printed their own newspaper. They wrote plays which they performed on a home stage.
Hobbies were encouraged. The oldest son, Joseph, amassed such a collection of insects by age 13 that he was invited to become a member of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences.
Second son, William, became a law partner with his father, and eventually became owner of two Davenport city blocks, the income from which supported the family and the Putnam Memorial Trust, set up to fund Davenport Academy projects.
The third child, Elizabeth Duncan, helped to found the Tri-City Garden Club, the Tri-City Art League, and the Arsenal Country Club. She was the first person to introduce golf clubs to Davenport.
Child number four, Edward Kirby, became an English professor at Stanford University, while another son, George, went on to become head of the United States Lighthouse Service. Two other sons became engineers.
Charles and Mary Putnam are proof of that old saying, “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
Hurry, now, I've left you a minute or two to get your daughter off to Girl Scouts.
Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet is underwritten by Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.
