My Genealogy Hound

Frank Gwynn, president of the Versailles Male and Female Institute, was born in Woodford County, Ky., November 10, 1858, being one of six surviving members of a family of eight children born to Williams S. and Angelina L. (Kean) Gwynn, who died in 1870. After their demise the children remained together on the farm for three years, and then Frank began the battle of life for himself. He attended the public schools up to the time of his father’s death, and for two years after; then, by hard work on the farm during the summer, he was enabled to attend Hamilton College, Elizabethtown, Ky., for the greater portion of the year. By this means he acquired sufficient education to teach his first country school, in 1875. He was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Hardin County for the following two or three years, also attending college in the meantime. During the next two years he was associated in private schools in Meade County, Ky., and afterward in Jefferson County. Here (about 1882) there was an interval during which Mr. Gwynn was watching by the bedside of an invalid sister, whom he nursed for nearly a year, at the close of which he went to Bourbon County, Ky., and taught both public and private schools for one year. He then removed to Versailles, Morgan County, Mo. During the first six months of Mr. Gwynn’s residence here he was engaged on the Morgan Messenger, & weekly paper published in Versailles. He then taught school at Barnett, Morgan County, for the next two years. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Gwynn took partial control of the Versailles Male and Female Institute, and in September of the same year accepted the presidency of the Institute, and by pluck, energy and good management has succeeded in placing it upon a firmer foundation than ever, as is shown by the increased attendance and the character of his supporters. The curriculum of the Institute embraces all—from the primary to the collegiate course. Thoroughness is his motto, and the examinations prove that he lives up to it. On the 1st day of May, 1889, Mr. Gwynn was united in marriage to Miss Annie Briscoe, daughter of John and Jennie Briscoe, of Morgan County, Mo. Mrs. Gwynn is a Baccalaureate graduate of Elizabeth Aull Seminary, of Lexington, Mo.; is also a graduate in music, and has an enviable reputation as a teacher. They will conduct the Institute in the future. Mr. Gwynn is a member of the Baptist Church, and is a Simon-pure Jeffersonian Democrat.