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CHARLES EGGERS
Vol. 3, p. 1244

An educator who has won well merited recognition in his chosen
profession, Charles Eggers, principal of the Fort Sill Indian School,
at Lawton, Oklahoma, has been in the employ of the United States
Government since January, 1904, with the exception of one year spent
in Florida. Few instructors have won more widespread popularity, and
none have displayed greater efficiency and executive ability in the
careful handling of the Government charges. While teaching was his
natural forte, and his success in this direction has proven beyond a
doubt that he made no mistake in his choice of a life vocation.

Professor Eggers was born on his father's farm in Bureau County,
Illinois, November 7, 1868, and is a son of James and Rachel A.
(MECUM) Eggers, being of German descent on his father's side of the
family, and of a mixture of Irish and English stock on his mother's.
James Eggers was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in 1833, and was
twenty-eight years of age when he emigrated to the United States. The
Civil war had just commenced, and he enlisted for service in the
United States navy, continuing to fight under the flag of his adopted
land for three years. At the close of the war Mr. Eggers located on a
farm in Bureau County, Illinois, was there married, and settled down
to farming pursuits in which he was successfully engaged until his
death in 1887. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church.
Mrs. Eggers, a native of Ohio, still survives her husband and resides
in Princeton, Illinois, near the old homestead place. Mr. and Mrs.
Eggers were the parents of five children, as follows: Emma, who
married Amos KRAGER and resides on a farm in Bureau County, Illinois;
Charles, of this review; James, who is employed by the Mineral Point
Zinc Company, at Depue, Bureau County, Illinois; George, who is a
successful agriculturist and also lives in Bureau County; and Elva,
who is the wife of Ora JONTZ, also a farmer in Bureau County.

Charles Eggers received his primary education in the district
schools of Bureau County and passed his boyhood and youth in much the
same manner as other Illinois farmers' sons, remaining on the
homestead until he was twenty-two years of age. He attended the State
Normal Schools, at Normal, Illinois, and then entered Steinman
Institute, Dixon, Illinois, where he pursued a normal course and was
graduated with the class of 1893. Mr. Eggers then began his
experience as a school teacher in the country districts of Lee
County, Illinois, and after three years was a teacher in the schools
of Bureau County, continuing in that capacity for seven years, his
last charge being the Mineral High School. From June, 1903, until
December of the same year, Mr. Eggers was a student in the University
of Valparaiso, Indiana, and during that time took a civil service
examination an entered the service of the United States Government in
January, 1904. For 1 1/2 years he had charge of the day school for
the Government at White Earth Indiana Reservation, in Minnesota, and
during the year 1906 was patron pastor of the Baptist Church, in the
State of Florida. Returning to the White Earth Reservation he did day
school work for three years more, being then transferred to the
boarding school at the same place, where he had charge for nearly
three years. He was next transferred to the Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma,
as supervising principal of the Indian schools, until October, 1914,
when he was made principal of the Rainy Mountain School, a capacity
in which he acted for three months. In January, 1915, Professor
Eggers was appointed principal of the Fort Sill Indian School, a
position which carries with it much prestige and which really
includes all the duties and responsibilities of superintendent. A man
of broad learning and practical experience, comprehensive knowledge
of human nature and a keen insight into the characteristics, needs
and ambitions of his charges, Professor Eggers has labored faithfully
and conscientiously, and his zealous, intelligent and will directed
work is accomplishing results which may not be over valued. In
politics, he was originally a republican, but since the Taft
administration has been a supporter of democratic policies and
candidates. He is a member of the Baptist Church and has been allied
with a number of undertakings which have had for their object the
advancement of morality, religion and good citizenship. Fraternally,
he is connected with the Mystic Workers of the World.

While a resident of Whiteside County, Illinois, Professor Eggers was
married, October 7, 1890, to Miss Eva MCNITT, a daughter of Elijah
McNitt, who was a well-to-do farmer in Whiteside and Bureau counties,
Illinois. Two children have been born to this union: Jessie, who is
the wife of Alfred PETERSON and resides on a farm in Doland, South
Dakota; and Florence, who is attending the public schools of Lawton.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, November 12, 1998.