Michael and Hannah Hirst first came to Towanda, Illinois from Liverpool, England in 1868. They originally landed in New York in April 1868 and arrived in Illinois later that month. They had 12 children, several of whom died in infancy. Several other families from their village settled in Towanda including Michael’s younger brother, George. Michael died in December of 1910 and Hannah died December of 1923.
Ruby Mae Aspel Vogel (1908-1984) was born in Towanda, and died in Melrose, Florida. She was the granddaughter of Michael and Hannah Hirst. In 1933, Aspel married Joseph G. Vogel. They lived on farms in Woodford, Livingston, and McLean counties, and finally in Bloomington, while raising eight children. She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery.
Ruby Aspel graduated from Eureka High School in 1926 and began teaching in a one-room country school. She received her master’s degree from Illinois State Normal University and taught for twenty-four years in area elementary schools. After a hiatus to raise her children, in 1954, she began teaching seventh grade at Unit Five’s Houghton School, then at Brigham School. In 1967 she began teaching special education in Octavia Unit schools.
She was active in many community, church, and school organizations. In May 1981 and 1983, she was a judge for The Pantagraph’s Flying Horse contest, representing the American Association of Retired Person.
Scope
This collection contains materials collected by several generations of the Hirst family. including postcards, arranged in an album, and photographs as well as biographical materials.
The valentines in this collection are divided into two major categories: those from friends and classmates sent to Ruby Aspel when a child, 1917-1922, and valentines from her students when she taught in a one-room school during the late 1920s and 1930s.