An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, pages 315-316
	
	
	V.A. PUSEY, Superintendent of Schools of King county, Washington, was born
in Champaign county, Illinois, November 27, 1853.
	Reuben Pusey, his father, was a native of Ohio, and when a boy moved, with
his parents to Illinois, they being among the first settlers on the Sangamon
river. He married Miss Elizabeth Hawk, a native of Ohio, and eighteen months
after his marriage departed this life, leaving a widow and infant son. This
child, V.A. Pusey, was taken by his grandmother, with whom he remained until the
opening of the Civil war, when the home was broken up by his uncles going into
the army. He then returned to his mother, whose untimely death occurred when he
was eleven years old. Thus, at a tender age, he was thrown upon his own
resources.
	From necessity, young Pusey's education became secondary to his efforts in
sustaining life, but, with a desire for knowledge, he improved every possible
opportunity, and by his study in the common schools and an attendance of one
year at the seminary at Harveysburg, Ohio, he fitted himself for teaching, and
at the age of eighteen years entered that profession. By husbanding his
resources he was enabled to enter Westfield College in Clark county, Illinois,
and there secured a thorough knowledge of the English branches. He was then
appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the Seventh District of
Illinois, and filled that office for eighteen months. At the same time he
studied law, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar in the Supreme Court of
Illinois, after which he entered into the practice of his profession at
Champaign, that State. Afterward he removed to Kansas, where he continued in the
practice of law until 1881. That year he went to Neosho, Newton county,
Missouri, and resumed teaching, and the following year he was made principal of
the public schools of that place.
	In 1884 Prof. Pusey sought a location in the far West. Coming to Washington
Territory, he settled at Farmington, where he taught school three years and at
the same time edited the Farmington Post. In the summer of 1887 he came to King
county and taught the school at Franklin Mines, subsequently becoming principal
of the schools at Black Diamond. While at the latter place he was elected County
Superintendent of Schools of King county. In 1890 he was re-elected to the same
position, receiving a majority of 3,800 votes, and in the convention of 1892 he
was again re-nominated. and elected, receiving a plurality of 3,560.
	When Prof. Pusey assumed the duties of his office in January, 1889, there
were 5,000 children of school age in the county, 120 teachers, and very few
school buildings worthy of mention. Each district had only about three or four
months of school, the same teacher having charge of two or three schools during
the year. With the increase of population there are now (1893) 16,831 children
of school age, 323 teachers, and the school districts have increased from
sixty-eight to 113. The old buildings have largely been replaced by commodious
new ones and the system of instruction has been greatly improved. The corps of
teachers represents nearly every State in the Union, many of them being
graduates of State normal schools, and by the annual system of institute work
adopted by Prof. Pusey the course of instruction is becoming more and more
advanced. Prof. Pusey is engaged in this work with enthusiastic devotion. Though
his earnest and persistent efforts is being perfected a system of instruction
that is unsurpassed by any other county or State.
	The Professor resides at Yesler, on Union Bay, where he owns forty acres of
land and where he has erected a spacious and elegant home. He was married in St.
Louis, Missouri, in 1878, to Miss Amand M. Pusey, a native of Illinois. They
have had three children, only one of whom is living.
	
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
	
	
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
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