Manual of the Elementary Schools of Madera County

On pages 77 through 88 of the Manual of the Elementary Schools, Madera County, California is a section entitled 'Madera County History'. It was published in 1926. The principal sources for this history were 1) A History of Fresno County, California (Wallace W. Elliott & Co., 1881); 2) a series of monographs written by Bessie M. Lill; and 3) interviews with various residents of Madera (see page 88). The history was written as an aid to elementary school teachers who were required to teach local history at the time.

Note on Bessie M. Lill (born 22 August 1883 - died 12 September 1964)
Mrs. Bessie M. Lill was born in Emporia, Kansas, and lived most of her life in the West. She was married to Harry Alfred Lill, and lived for awhile in Madera. Bessie was a journalist writing for various newspapers, magazines and did publicity work. While living in Madera, she wrote publicity monographs for the Madera County Chamber of Commerce and other organizations. She compiled historic and romantic data relating to Madera County's early days. Bessie was one o the organizers and first president of the Madera Business and Professional Women's Club, and also a member of Madera's Women's Improvement Club. In 1928 she became state secretary of the Women's Federation of Business & Professional Women's Clubs. [Source: Women of the West: a series of biographical sketches of living eminent women by Max Binheim & Charles A. Elvin, 1928 - Page 62.]
The 1920 census shows her living in the Borden Precinct of Madera County. There are no known extant copies of her monographs. The only surviving passages of her work are those cited in quotation marks in the Manual of the Elementary Schools.

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