Ella Hockaday

Born March 12, 1875, Ella Hockaday spent her early childhood in Ladonia, where her father, Thomas Hart Benton Hockaday, had established an academy shortly before the Civil War. After her mother’s death, she lived with her sister in Bonham. She received a bachelor of arts from what is now the University of North Texas, and began her teaching career at numerous schools including the Jefferson School in Sherman, where she was later promoted to principal. She attended The University of Chicago and The Teachers College at Columbia University before taking a position with The Presbyterian School in Durant, Oklahoma.

In 1913 she founded the Miss Hockaday School for Girls in Dallas.