BIOGRAPHY: George N. Child; Tooele, Tooele co., Utah

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen for The USGenWeb Archives Project
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History of Utah
The Storied Domain
A Documentary History of Utah's Eventual Career
by J. Cecil Alter
Vol. 2, published 1932 (expired copyright)
The American Historical Society, Inc.

GEORGE N. CHILD. Significant in initiative and constructive values has been
the service rendered by George N. Child in connection with educational work in
his native State of Utah, where he is now serving as superintendent of the
public schools of Salt Lake City. His is the further distinction of having
given a characteristically loyal and efficient administration as state
superintendent of public instruction.

Mr. Child was born in Clover, Tooele County, Utah, February 11, 1869, and is a
son of John J. and Elizabeth Child, sterling citizens who had pioneer honors
as settlers in Utah. John J. Child owned a ranch property in the Clover
district of Tooele County and there carried on live stock enterprise on a
somewhat extensive scale. In order to afford his children better educational
advantages than were offered in that community he removed with his family to
Lehi, Utah County, in the year 1875, and he and his wife were honored pioneer
citizens of that county at the time of their death.

George N. Child was six years of age at the time of the family removal to
Lehi, and there he was given the advantages of the public schools of the
period. He later continued his studies in the Brigham Young Academy, which was
the nucleus of the present Brigham Young University, and in due course he was
graduated in the normal department of this institution. Thereafter he advanced
his education by attending the school of arts and sciences of the University
of Utah, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In connection
with his practical service as one of the representative figures in the
educational circles of Utah he has since carried forward special courses in
leading educational institutions of other states of the Union, and there is
all of consistency in the following estimate of earnest service: "Mr. Child's
success in his chosen profession has been largely due to the fact that he has
ever been a constant student of education, bringing to bear practical
experience in the solution of psychological and pedagogic problems."

The service of Mr. Child as a teacher in the Utah schools had its inception in
1890, when he assumed charge of a small school at Midway, Wasatch County,
where he remained one year. He then became a teacher in the schools at Lehi,
where eventually he was made principal and later he served as superintendent
of the schools of Utah County, one of the largest counties in the state. In
1911 he assumed the position of supervisor of the grammar grades in the public
schools of Salt Lake City, where he was later advanced to the office of
assistant superintendent of schools. In 1919 he was appointed state
superintendent of public instruction, this preferment having come to him
through Governor Bamberger, and it was after his retirement from the office
that he resumed his service with the public schools of Salt Lake City, of
which he is now the able and popular superintendent.

During his extended and varied experience as a teacher and educational
executive, often with large responsibilities, Mr. Child has been closely
associated with the growth and advancement of education in the state and
nation. He served two years as president of the Utah Education Association, in
the affairs of which he continues largely influential, and for three years he
was state director for Utah of the National Education Association. In both of
these organizations he has served on numerous committees ana has occupied many
positions of leadership. At the time of this writing, in 1931, Mr. Child is
president of the Utah Association of Superintendents, of the National Horace
Mann LeagueÄan auxiliary of the Department of Superintendents, and of the
Superintendents National Rotary, besides which he is an active member of the
National Council of Education.

The civic loyalty of Mr. Child has been on a parity with that attaching to his
professional career, and his influence and cooperation have been given in
connection with movements and enterprises projected for the general communal
good. He is an active and valued member of the Chamber of Commerce of Salt
Lake City and is chairman of its committee on education. He has membership
also in the local Rotary Club.

Mr. Child married Miss Florence Willes in 1890, and six children were born of
this union, two of whom still survive: Florence, who married Donald S.
Lambert, and Edyth, who married Kenneth Myers. Mrs. Child passed away in
November, 1906. In 1908 Mr. Child married Miss Julia Alleman, and they have
three children: Julia, John and Richard.