Background
Born on 22 February 1861, Alice was the daughter of John Hyson and Margaret (Miller) Hyson, of Hopewell Township in York County, Pennsylvania.
Born on 22 February 1861, Alice was the daughter of John Hyson and Margaret (Miller) Hyson, of Hopewell Township in York County, Pennsylvania.
Alice Hyson and her thirteen siblings were educated at the Hyson School, a one room school house located near their farm in rural York County. Alice attended Millersville Normal School, along with her sisters.
She spent 31 years as a missionary in the Western territories at a time when few white women were traveling to the West, to the Taos, New Mexico and Santa Fe de Nuevo México regions. Aside from providing a religious and academic education, she also provided rudimentary health care. Alice Hyson was the seventh child of 14 children.
Her siblings were:
Jane Ann Hyson, 1848-1913
John Miller Hyson, 1850-1931
Elizabeth Mary Hyson, 1852-1921
Robert Bortner Hyson, 1853-1930
Sarah Mariah Hyson, 1855-1920
Archibald Free Hyson, 1857-1945
David A. Hyson, 1859-1936
Cordelia Elwinda Hyson, 1863-1942
Hanna Emma Abby Hyson, 1864-1947
Clara Louisa Hyson, 1866-1889
Zelia Gertrude Hyson, 1867–1931
Pleasant C. Hyson, 1869–1967
Bertha Olivia Hyson, 1873–1960
The first school was a dark, poorly ventilated room in the house of Doña Antonia Montaño.
Although the school was initially for boys only, Alice Hyson was able to reach girls as well by establishing a sewing class. "Then the mothers began to take as much pride in the girls as in the boys." After two years, the school moved to a small church.
Around 1888, a new school building was built, with two classrooms and teachers" quarters. Her sisters Bertha and Cordelia also worked with her at various times.
Alice Hyson lived and worked in Ranchos de Taos until her health began to decline in 1915.
Then she returned to her family in Pennsylvania. Her epitaph reads: "Foreign God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have shewed toward his name".