McCourt, Robert

Robert McCourt was born in Ontario, Canada, on March 19, 1856, to Scottish parents James McCourt and Sarah McGee. He attended common schools and completed advanced grammar training in Donegal before immigrating to California in April 1876. He initially taught in Sacramento, Humboldt, and San Joaquin counties before moving to Fresno in 1889, where he spent seven years teaching grammar school, seven years as principal of the Columbia School, and sixteen years as principal of the Lincoln School.

In Fresno County, Robert served on the County Board of Education for ten years and worked as supervising principal while continuing his higher education at the Fresno State Normal. Married near Lodi on January 24, 1884, to Martha J. Woodson, the daughter of pioneers B. A. and Mary A. Woodson, he raised three children named Irma May, Chester Elwood, and Hugh Harold. A past grand of the Odd Fellows and a dedicated Presbyterian, he invested in a quarter section of land near Lemoore and devoted over two decades to advancing local public education.