CLEARWATER, THERESA CLARK (1853-1938). Theresa Clark Clearwater, first teacher in Cameron County, daughter of William Henry Clark, was born on December 19, 1853, at Clarksville in Cameron County. In 1872 she received a state teaching certificate and, at a salary of fifty-five dollars a month, became the teacher of the first school in Cameron County and one of the first certified teachers in the area. In 1875 Theresa Clark married Joseph H. Clearwater; they had two children. After her husband died in 1879 in Tampico, Tamaulipas, she returned to Point Isabel, then moved to Brownsville, where she taught school from 1882 to 1936. She died on September 28, 1938; a Brownsville elementary school was named in her honor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. H. Chatfield, The Twin Cities of the Border and the Country of the Lower Rio Grande (New Orleans: Brandao, 1893; rpt., Brownsville: Brownsville Historical Association, 1959). San Antonio Express, January 10, 1937.
