Ward Academy History - A Directory, Articles, Photos, Letters, and First Hand Accounts

The History of Ward Academy - Centered Around Charles Nash’s Directory of Faculty and Students

Ward Academy, a Christian residential school established in 1893 in Academy in Charles Mix County, South Dakota – was central to the life of the Charles Mix County region.  Founded almost five years after South Dakota achieved statehood, it was part of a developing settler community.  Religious and educational institutions were central to community life, and Ward Academy was just that - supported by the farmers and business people of the region who sent their children.  For almost forty years it was a major institution in Charles Mix County. 

There was a touching article written about Ward Academy that is linked here and captures the pioneering community that it once was.  The 1913 article in the Wheeler Courier posted below speaks of the bustling Academy community.  But the brief Wikipedia entry about Academy has a rather sad statement about current times:

“A post office called Academy was established in 1899. The community took its name from the Ward Academy, which was once located there. A small one-room elementary school and two farms are all that remain at Academy in the 21st century.”

The last academy class graduated in 1930, so at this point, there are no Ward Academy alumni, staff, or faculty members still alive. Most of the buildings are gone - just the church and the monument remain at the academy site.  But it is a story that needs to be remembered and needs to be told - and, fortunately, much has been left behind that makes that possible.

The directory posted here - as well as photos, news articles, a history, a catalogue, some personal memories from students, and other mementos are what is left of the thriving community that meant so much to those who worked there, studied there, and were alumni with memories for over sixty years after it closed.  Those items are posted here among the pages of the directory - which lists the faculty and students that made up the Ward Academy community for its forty year history. There are also a few contemporary accounts - such as the history “This One Thing I Do”, published in 1952 - which provided photos, letters, and anecdotes, some included below but largely not posted here. Additionally, Mabel (Toland) Nash and Charles Nash left recollections.

This page is not a “complete” history, but one that covers the significant pieces of the history of Ward Academy and tries to capture a community that has been gone for ninety-five years - using items that might not be available to most.

Ward Academy was central to the life of my family members - the Nashes of Carroll Township.  My grandmother Josephine Nash (Ofstedahl) attended, as did her siblings and cousins, and her father appears to have been a board member. I regularly heard about Ward Academy as a child.  Josephine made lifelong friends there, especially her friend Kate Sabin (Nachtigal) and returned for reunions once she left South Dakota for California.  Josephine’s oldest brother George Nash was a student at Ward Academy when he died in 1907 at age seventeen – a few letters from Academy to home are posted in the web pages on Jim Nash and Ida Christensen and are transcribed on this page.  My mother described in her recollections of how hard it was to get from the farm to the Academy, even though the distance was less than twenty miles, explaining why Jo didn’t come home very often while a boarding student.

Charles Nash, Josephine’s cousin, was a student and teacher at Ward Academy before his own education career elsewhere.  He treasured his Ward Academy years, and is responsible for many of the items shown on this page.  He authored many of the publications that preserve the memories of Ward Academy, one being a 75th anniversary pamphlet for the Academy Church.  He worked with others on a monument to the Camfields and the Academy – which is at the former Academy site to this day.  He authored his own autobiography “Recollections”, which has references to his Ward Academy years. I believe he was a partner in the publication of the book “This Thing I Do”, which chronicles the Camfield family and the history of Ward Academy.  And he authored a mimeographed listing of faculty, staff, and students of Ward Academy, published in 1959.  This page contains all the pages of that directory, and various supporting articles and photos - including my grandmother’s copy of the 1916-1917 catalogue which describes so many pieces of life at Ward Academy. 

In Charles’ Recollections, posted on this website, he wrote about his memories of Ward Academy, and of coming back to teach at Ward Academy: “. . .  Of the seven graduates whom Dr. Camfield called back to teach at the old school, not one ever stayed more than a year.  Invariably we were just out of college and had other plans, as did I, to get married, or start up some other business.  Salaries paid teachers at Academy were too meager to start planning.  It always appealed to me that teachers who taught at Ward Academy must have a missionary spirit, as did the Camfields.”

This is the one page in this website where the original content was lost – it just disappeared below the header at some point.  I have reconstructed this page, and this page is much more comprehensive than the original. The photo of my grandmother’s class is at the header of this page – Jo is at the back left, and Kate Sabin (Nachtigal) is in the front to the left of the young man in that row. A partial key to the photograph is posted below (there are twelve in the photo, and eight identified below - Jo Nash is not on the list - when I find the original I will re-scan and post).  All of the class of 1917 are listed in the directory below.

Ward Academy General Photos

This photo of Warren Hall at Ward Academy, which was the later “Girl’s Dorm” at the Academy - probably where my grandmother lived while a student. This photo was among my grandmother’s photos. The photo has been enhanced and colorized.

The photo below is of Ward Hall, the early “Girl’s Dorm”.

The Monument to the Camfields and Ward Academy that is at the Ward Academy site in Academy, South Dakota, from my own visit in 2000.

The text of the monument, as shown above:

Inscription: To the memory of Dr. Lewis E. and Ella Woodman Camfield
Founders of Ward Academy at this site in 1893
Dedicated their lives to the building of Christian character through church and school

Lewis Emerson Camfield
1860 — 1941
Pioneer missionary
Inspiring preacher
Beloved teacher
Trusted friend
Practical idealist

Ella Woodman Camfield
1863 — 1923
Devoted wife and mother
Sympathetic guide to youth
Community leader
Wise counselor
Woman of letters
 
Erected 1946 by Camfield Memorial Association. (Marker Number 644.)

Additionally, the references in “This One Thing That I Do” dates the monument from 1947 and includes a photo of the path from the highway to the monument at that time.

“This One Thing I Do” had photos of an “old” barn - which burned - and the “new” barn, which had a metal roof.

The “This Thing That I Do” contained a photo page that had a photo of a boy’s hall (dorm?), the J. E. Lloyd  store, and a creamery - a mix of Ward Academy and Academy.  John E. Lloyd is shown in the 1900 census in LaRoche Township (where Academy was) in Charles Mix County, 37, born in Iowa, married with three children and listed as a “general storekeeper”.   Mr. Lloyd’s 1958 obituary (Jan 7, 1958 Sioux Falls Argus Leader), posted below, shows he was a storekeeper in Academy for 65 years and was listed as a “pioneer” of Academy, and also served as secretary-treasurer for Ward Academy, as well as representing the area for two terms in the state legislature.

The photo below was taken at the Academy Church ca June 1993 (the date on the back of the photo). In it were Anita Dimick (Nachtigal), Shirley Nash Dimick, Marla Dimick, Ralph Laird, Keith Nash, Dorothy Ofstedahl Laird, and Rusty Dimick.  Shirley and Keith’s father Guy Nash was a first cousin to Jo Nash Ofstedahl, mother of Dorothy - and both Guy and Jo were students at Ward Academy.  A 1909 post card from Guy to his Uncle William Morse - postmarked Academy - is posted further below.

The Founding of Ward Academy

The cover page of the history of the Camfields and Ward Academy is posted below.  Photos from this book have been sprinkled throughout this page, as is the transcript of the sermon given at Dr. Camfield’s memorial.  Below the cover page are the pages that cover the founding of Ward Academy in the 1890’s - as a good statement, in letters to a family member, about the establishment of the academy.  These pages seem to be a mix of these letters and autobiographical statements by Dr. Camfield.  But they capture the beginning of the Academy and the goals and struggles in getting it established.  The early letters are datelined Colvin, South Dakota - but I can find no record that indicates where that was.

The History of the Academy Congregational Church - as told by Charles A. Nash for the 75th Anniversary in 1963

Charles Nash wrote the 75th History of the Academy Congregational Church in 1963. There was an celebratory event, and the program lists Kate Nachtigal playing the piano. The History tells of the church and how Dr. Camfield came to the church - and the founding of Ward Academy. The history portion of the publication - which is most of the item - is posted below the cover page.  Wm. Nash is listed as one of the church trustees at the time of the 1963 event.  Bill Nash was the son of Harley and Belle (Hoffman) Nash, who was listed in his 2001 obituary as farming in Academy at this time and also he was married there to Betty Adamson in 1959.

The Ward Academy Directory with Supporting Items

The Directory was mimeographed and stapled - produced by Charles A. Nash. There is no date on the directory but given the deaths listed, it was likely in 1960 or after (Ben Nash is shown as deceased, and he died in July 1960).  There is a brief history at the beginning, and Jo Nash Ofstedahl’s copy had seven pages of hand-written notes, relating to reunions I believe, which are posted following the directory. There are also a few newspaper articles, and I have posted those following the directory as well. I have also posted the 1916-1917 catalogue, which was among my grandmother’s things, which details the board, students, alumni, tuition rates, class offerings, and more. I have also posted the photos from the history of the Camfields and Ward Academy.  The cover page of the directory is just below, and the rest of the pages of the directory follow.

Many familiar Charles Mix County surnames are in this directory. I have called out family members, but there are others from Carroll Township - Slys, Hardings, and Foxleys. There are other names from throughout the region. Interestingly there are family members of two future United States Senators here. Peter Norbeck, who was later Governor and Senator from South Dakota, lived in Charles Mix County where his father was a minister in Bloomington and Platte. Peter Norbeck was a well driller by profession and drilled wells for the Nashes in Carroll Township.  J. J. Exon was a Senator from Nebraska and various of his Exon family from a previous generation are shown here as well, and a 1913 article in the Wheeler Courier about a day trip to Academy was written by J. H. Exon.  Senator Exon was born in Geddes in 1921.

The photo below is from “This One Thing I Do” and is of Rev. Camfield and his wife and child.

The Camfield’s home was pictured in the “This Thing That I Do” and is posted below.

Charles Nash entry as a faculty member is shown just below - the author of this directory and cousin of my grandmother - showing his Ward Academy subjects and his later degree at Yankton College.  He is quoted at the beginning of this page about the graduates who taught at Ward Academy.

The history “This One Thing I Do” contains photos of various Ward Academy faculty members. I have posted them just below, and they match up with this directory’s listings.

Mabel Toland, who met Ben Nash at Ward Academy and later married him - wrote a biography published by grandson Steve Langenfeld in 1981. The section on Ward Academy details how she didn’t get along with Sara Hughes (whose photo is just below) and how that relationship eventually led to her leaving Ward Academy. Since it is one of the few contemporaneous accounts of life at Ward Academy, those pages will be posted just below Sara Hughes photo.

Listed below as an early student is Mary (“Mate”) Nash (Elfes). She was the daughter of George Nash and the sister of Jim Nash, and the aunt of my grandmother Jo Nash (Ofstedahl). She was born in 1870, so she was a late in life Ward Academy student.  Alton Parish is listed as a student.  A 1900 card from him to George Nash is posted in the page on Jim Nash and Ida Christensen Nash.

A centennial edition of the Platte Enterprise from June 1, 2000, contains a story from the June 1, 1900 edition, with an article featuring Ward Academy on the front page.

Helen Larson, later a teacher for many decades in Charles Mix County as Helene Just, is shown below as one of the partial list of students in the 1897-1900 period. She was the one teacher my mother had that she remembered and who made a big impression on her.  She saved the 1955 article below, noting that Mrs. Just was her third grade teacher, indicating that Mrs. Just had taught three generations of one family.

My grandmother saved a clipping from a 1938 Platte Enterprise edition - which included the celebration of Jim and Ida Nash’s 15th wedding anniversary, and Jim Nash’s brother Orson building a corn crib and granary, which is the reason it was saved. Yet the first item shows that there were 55 students enrolled at Ward Academy in October 1903.

Ruby Carroll is shown below in a 1904 class. Her mother Climena Blodgett was the sister of Phoebe Blodgett Nash - the wife of George Nash and grandmother to most of the Nash’s that attended Ward Academy. Ruby’s father was Henry Carroll, for whom Carroll Township in Charles Mix County - where the Nashes lived - was named.  Henry ran an early ferry service from Wheeler to the other side of the Missouri River.  Ruby’s brother Harry was shown below in the 1905 class.

George Nash - the son of Jim and Ida Kate Nash - died while a student at Ward Academy in 1907 just short of his seventeenth birthday. A few letters from him at Academy are posted in the first page of Jim Nash and Ida Christensen. These letters are transcribed below and the originals are posted there. He died later in the year these letters were written and is listed with the Class of 1910 below.  He did not live to graduate.  These letters are significant because they mention names of other students, and other things about being in Academy.

                                                      Academy, S. Dak.

                                                      January 23, 1907

Dear Father:

I received your letter Saturday and have stayed in the house as you told me to.  I am nearly well now. The swelling has nearly gone down and I think I will be able to go to school tomorrow or the next day. There are three other boys sick in our hall now so I have plenty of company. Charles and Frank [sons of Orley Nash and cousins to George - Charles wrote the “Recollections” in the 1960’s and also worked on the history of Ward Academy] took some of the boys sleighriding Sunday afternoon. The snow is just right. Tell mamma those cookies come in just right to eat with coffee. I hope Mose is up and around now days. The stage from Platte has just come. Hoping every body well.  I guess I will close for this time.

                                                      Your Son,

                                                      George.

Below is a two-page letter to Ida Nash from George Nash in Academy, dated March 18, 1907. The original of this two-page letter was so faded that I could not really read it.  I scanned both pages, and then used the photo tools to darken the pages, and the scanned, edited versions are mostly readable - and are transcribed and posted below. 

“Academy, So. Dak.  March 18, ’07

Dear Mother – I must hurry if I get this letter finished before the stage goes, but I will try.  I suppose you are having lots of fun since Ben came out here.  I am glad that I am coming home Friday afternoon.  The folks seemed to enjoy themselves when they were here.  The entertainment was good.  Gee!  I wish Bennie could have been here.  The night they came I was working hauling water.  Fuzz went home with him took him, took his truck, and says he is not coming back to take examination.  I haven’t any money but I think I can get along this term.  Della Grimes had the mumps and she just got over them when her eyes got sore and now she has the pink eye.  She is going home today.  Well I guess its time to stop or the stage will go out before I get there.  Goodbye, Georgie.  Say hello to Uncle Ben for me.”

The April 7 1907 letter from George below mentions Ora [Elfes], daughter of Mate Nash; mentions Guy Nash; mentions brother “Bennie” Nash; and names many other people involved with Ward Academy.

                                                     Academy, South Dakota

                                                      April 7, 1907

Dear Folks:

I hope you are all well. We are all feeling pretty well. I heard that Aunt Ella is sick. Is that so? You may tell Grandpa that Ora has not had any letters from Aunt Mate for some time. He wanted me to tell her to send them home. Has Bennie taken any more pictures yet, or killed any more rabbits? Guy has a cake here and we have quite a cupboard. The Senior class had a show last night. Several of the old students were back again. Ruby Grimes, Miles Hanna, and Cecil Dunn were here. I had a post card from Earl Cooper Friday. He is going to school now. I am taking six studies this term, but there is quite a bit of note-book work, so it is not very hard.

The literary society has new officers this term. Miss Dewey is the critic. We are supposed to answer the roll call by giving quotations and last term not more than half gave quotations. So Miss Dewey promised them a picnic sometime this term if they would all give quotations. All answered but two. I am on for a recitation the 25th of this month. I suppose they are in the midst of sowing. Quite a few around her are all through. I am getting along pretty well in my music, but I don't find much time to practice.

When do you think we will be able to get home. Will says that maybe Mr. Sly will be after us next Sat. night. I could ride the bicycle home anytime if I had a way to get back. My fingers are so cold I can hardly write. I road up to the hills last Sunday and was pretty tired when I got home again. Prof. Hoopes has a new wheel with wils(?) like mine and a coaster hub. Did it rain much at home? We had quite a shower Sat. night while we were at the show. They are starting the furnace this morning. Some of the boys are just getting up. What time do you get up now? The sun is almost up when we get up now. We changed tables Saturday night and I sit by Ora at Miss Dewey's table. Did I tell you about our new cook? She is the Rev. Pope's wife. She sometimes has the meals late but we have a better table than we used to. Have you heard how Carl Holter is getting on. I haven't heard a word about it. Well, I guess I had better stop, it is too cold to write. Goodbye.

                                                      With Love,

                                                      George

The envelope before is the one known surviving one with Jim Nash listed as Oil Inspector. As shown in various articles above Jim Nash was Oil Inspector from 1905-1907.

One photo from “This Thing That I Do” is of students in front of the church in 1908. Note the few students sitting up in the tower.

The photo below is of the Ward Academy “Assembly Room” in 1908. It looks like a classroom.

Charles Nash, author of this directory, is shown below on the next directory page in the class of 1909. Frank Nash, Charles’ brother and a future sheriff and state legislator, is shown below in the Class of 1910.

Charles Nash authored his 64 page Recollections in 1973, which is shown on another page on this website. A few of the pages refer to his time at Ward Academy. They include references to what happened to some of his classmates, a story about he and his brother Frank having a shack constructed by the dorm one year to save on living in the dorm, and more. The pages that refer to his time at Ward Academy are posted below:

Guy Nash, the son of Orson Nash, and the cousin to Charles, Frank, Ben, and Josephine Nash, is shown above in the Class of 1910. I obtained a post card from him - postmarked in May 1909 - addressed to his Uncle William Morse of Iowa.  It is postmarked from Academy, South Dak.  The back side shows a received stamp for Nora Springs, Iowa.  The message says that Guy has three weeks of school left, so the school year must have gone to mid-June.

Rena Lunders provided a photo of students, faculty and staff at Ward Academy. She believed to be taken between 1895-1900, but the book “This Thing I Do” contains the photo and dates it from 1910. The photo has been colorized and is posted here:

A second photograph of students on a post card I found and purchased online. I colorized it and it is posted below. There are no items from the message side that identify a date or further information.

Florence Camfield, the daughter of the Ward Academy founders, is shown below in the Class of 1911. Ora Elfes is also shown below, the daughter of “Mate” Nash (listed in the directory as an early student herself) and cousin of Jo Nash Ofstedahl.

Ray Nash, the son of Orson Nash and Charles and Jo’s first cousin, is shown in the class of 1913. He died in 1914.

I have a photograph of the Ward Academy baseball team. I show a date of 1910, but Ben C. Nash is in it - and he was shown below in the Class of 1913. The photo has been colorized and is posted below. Ben Nash is in the front left.

The photo of the 1913 Ward Academy football team is from “This Thing I Do” and they are named below the photo - Emil Nachtigal, future husband of Kate Sabin, is one:

The Wheeler Courier published out of the Charles Mix County seat of Wheeler (which, as a reminder was where my grandmother Jo - Class of 1917 - was born and which was inundated by Lake Francis Case when the Missouri River was dammed). The publisher of the paper was J. H. Exon - and Dorothy Exon was in the 1917 class with my grandmother.  A November 13, 1913 article describes driving to Academy is posted below, appearing to be written by J. H. Exon.

Mabel Toland is shown below in 1914. She married Ben Nash in 1916. Family lore says she was Jo’s roommate at Ward Academy and that’s how she met Ben Nash.  Leila Jones is shown below in the class of 1915.  She married Frank Nash.

Among my grandmother’s items was the invitation to her class’ 1917 graduation. The invitation was wide and was a two folded, three panel item with heavy paper stock. The first panel was the cover for the invitation, posted below left. The class listing inside is posted below right, and includes the class motto: “We’ll find a path, or make one”.  In one of the other panels of the invitation was a symbol of the 1917 class, which is posted below also.

In addition to Jo Nash in the class of 1917, her brother Ted Nash is listed below as well. Emil Nachtigal is shown below as well - he married Jo’s classmate Kate Sabin.  Arch Dimick is shown below as well - his son Rusty married Guy Nash’s daughter Shirley.

In 2005, I did a long oral history with my Mother, Dorothy Ofstedahl Laird, Jo Nash Ofstedahl’s daughter. There was a brief section that mentioned Ward Academy:

“John: And going back to South Dakota for a second, you mentioned that your Mother had gone to Ward Academy.  What do you remember about, it had already closed by the time you were a kid.

Dot: Yes. But Rev. Camfield, it was a congregational school, Rev. Camfield was the headmaster, as you might call him.  And it was a boarding school and my mother lived on a farm, so she had to go and stay there all year.  If she were to come home, they’d have to go get her in the buggy and wagon.  So she didn’t come home very often.  I remember growing up, that there would be reunions, and she would go back out to visit all of her friends.

John: Had they torn down a lot of Ward Academy by the you were a kid or were some of the buildings still standing?

Dot: I don’t remember that.

John: And that’s how Academy got its name.

Dot: Yes. That’s how the little town got its name and the school.  And she roomed with Kate Nachtigal.

John: Which was a friendship that lasted her whole life.

Dot: Yes. But her whole family went there.  And that’s where she first met Uncle Ben’s wife Mabel, because Mabel was in school too at that time.

John: Even in Mabel’s biography said she had roomed with a sister of Ben and since there’s only one, that was probably the one.

Dot: Yes, Mom.

John: It’s kind of unusual to have such a prairie academy.

Dot: It is.  I think it is.

John: And your Mom never went to college, right?

Dot: No. When she graduated from Ward Academy, she started teaching at a country school and she taught I think for two years until she met my father.

John: Oh, so she taught between?

Dot: She taught after she got out of Ward Academy.”

When my Grandmother came to California, she was one of the last teachers in California to not have a college degree - her experience at Ward Academy and subsequently as a teacher in South Dakota, carried her. She took continuing college units to maintain her California teaching credential.

One of the items my grandmother left behind was the Ward Academy catalogue for the years 1916-1917 - when she was a senior. The catalogue is a window into life at Ward Academy. The cover is posted below, with her name hand-written in the upper corner. The full catalogue is posted after the directory pages.

The article below is from the Huron (South Dakota) Daily Plainsman of May 23, 1930.

The article below is from the Mitchell Evening Republican of March 17, 1930.

The typed page with the school song was tucked into the directory and is posted below, as is a handwritten version, which was tucked in my grandmother’s 1916-17 catalogue:

Above with Jo’s class in the directory is posted the cover page of the 1916-1917 Ward Academy catalogue. The full catalogue is posted just below, closing with the back side page. It is significant because it lists board members (Jim and Guy Nash are listed), students, alumni (and where they were living after Ward Academy), tuition, and many other parts of academy life and operations - giving a flavor of all aspects the academy and its life.

In the December 2011 issue of South Dakota magazine, there is an article about the “poor house” in Charles Mix County and the stories of Christmas 1933. The location of the poor house is a four story building at the former Ward Academy dorm in Academy [which would have closed about three years before].

Dr. Camfield’s obituary was in the October 2, 1941 Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Excerpts from the Funeral Sermon of Dr. Camfield by Rev. A. C. Warner were included in the appendix of “This One Thing I Do” and are posted below:

Below is an article on a Ward Academy Reunion, that appears to be from 1969, which was among my grandmother’s things. Also posted below that are notes that appear to be from the organizing for a reunion.