Anna Peck Sill was an American educator who opened and administered a girls’ school that would become Rockford College.
Background
Anna Peck Sill was born in Burlington, Otsego County, New York. She was a descendant of Puritan ancestors, John and Joanna Sill, of England, who settled at Cambridge, Massachussets, about 1637; later the family removed to Connecticut and thence in 1789 to Otsego County. Her father was a farmer, quiet, industrious, and intelligent, and her mother, the daughter of Judge Jedediah Peck, a woman of great energy of character. Anna attended the district school.
Education
The early discipline of domestic duties, the inspiration of nature, and above all a "thirst for knowledge and religion" constituted the mainsprings of her life.
She attended school at Albion and entered the Phipps Union Seminary, a pioneer among institutions for girls' education.
Career
To prayer she was so early accustomed that she regarded it as innate; the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer constituted her earliest books; and yet, she says, her soul "cried out for its God, " and she "groped in the dark but did not find Him. " Thus she continued till 1831, when, apparently, the "wind from the Holy Spirit" which blew over New England and surrounding territory, producing great revivals, touched her soul with peace.
At twenty she left Burlington to teach a district school at Barre, New York, near Albion, for which she received two dollars a week.
She became one of the teachers at Phipps, where she continued till 1843. After considering the foreign missionary field in India, she turned to the great West, which was itself coming to be considered a fruitful field for missionary activity.
Failing to find an opportunity there at the time, she went alone to Warsaw, New York, and in 1843 opened a seminary for ladies which, though it seems to have been an immediate success, was discontinued three years later.
Between 1846 and 1849 she had charge of the female department of Cary Collegiate Institute, Oakfield, New York, and then accepted the invitation of Rev. Lewis H. Loss to open a school for girls at Rockford, Illinois. On July 11 she noted in her journal: "Today commenced school, and laid the foundation of Rockford Female Seminary.
Opened with fifty-three scholars. O Lord, fit me for my work and glorify Thyself thereby. " For the first two years, only preparatory work was done. The first seminary class entered in 1851, and a new building, begun in 1852, was crowded at once. To secure funds and regain failing strength, she went East and returned in 1854 with a fund of $5, 000. In that year a three-year collegiate course was begun, which after 1865 became a four-year course. After 1882 collegiate degrees were conferred, and in 1892 the name of the institution was changed to Rockford College.
Though she retired from active service in 1884, she continued as principal emerita until her death, which occurred in Rockford.