BIOGRAPHY: Jacob & Deborah (Rogers) Willets; Dutchess co., New York

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen
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1683
History of Duchess County (sic - Dutchess County), New York
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of someof its Prominent Men and
Pioneers.
By James H. Smith, assisted by Hume H. Cale and William E. Roscoe
published by D. Mason & Co., 1882, Syracuse, New York
page 329-330

     Of Willets and his school Benson J. Lossing, the historian, says:-

     Jacob Willets entered the Nine Partners Boarding School on the day it
was opened for the first term. He was then in the eighth year of his age, and
on the day he was eighteen (1806) he was installed as head teacher.  Deborah
Rogers, a lineal descendant of the martyr, Rev. John Rogers, entered the
school as a pupil some time afterwards ane became a teacher there. Among her
pupils from 1804 to 1806, was Lucretia Coffin of Nantucket, afterwards
Lucretia Mott, lately deceased, whof or full half a century was one of the
most distinguished members of the Society of Friends in this country. Miss
Rogers became the pricnipal teacher in the department for girls. In 1812
Willets and Deborah were married. He was a successful mathematican, and she
was equally so as a grammarian. Gould Brown, author of "Institute of English
Grammar &c.," with whom she became acquainted early in life, often consulted
her on disputed questions in grammar. In after years when his important work
was finished, he paid her the compliment of saying that she rendered him great
assistance in its preparation.

     Jacob Willets was the author of a popular arithemtic and geography. The
first edition of the former was published in 1813. Both works ahd strong
official recommendations and were extensively used throughout the country for
many years.

     Jacob and Deborah Willets left the boarding school and went to the
island of Nantucket. In 1824, having returned to Duchess (sic Dutchess)
county, the opened a school near Mechanic, chiefly for the education of young
men, which was continued by them until 1852. Jacob was born in the town of
Fishkill in 1785, and while in his infancy his parents removed to the town of
Washington, where he remained a resident until his death. Deborah, his wife,
was born in Marshfield, mass., in August, 1789, and died at her homstead near
the scens of her life-long labors in 1870, retaining her grat mental vigor to
the last."