Mounted photograph of the Science Hill graduating class of 1860. Based in Shelbyville, KY, the Science Hill Female Academy was founded in 1825 by Julia Ann Hieronymus Tevis. Tevis is in the 1st row on the left in this photograph.
While teaching in Arbingdon, Virginia, Julia met Rev. John Tevis, an itinerant Methodist minister from Kentucky. The couple married on March 9, 1824 with the understanding that Julia would continue to teach after they married. The reverend preached across a 900-square-mile territory and was often away from home, allowing Julia to live fairly independently.
One year after their marriage, Tevis founded the Science Hill Female Academy in her husband's hometown of Shelbyville, Kentucky, shortly after giving birth to the first of seven children. During the school's first year, she taught 35 students.
