Discover the stories behind the names and places.
Explore the documented life of Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ordway and meet the people behind familiar names across Kitsap County.
History is never finished.
New stories, sources, and corrections are added as research continues.
Who was Lizzie?
Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ordway was an educator, suffrage organizer, and elected school official whose work connected communities around Puget Sound.
Born in Derry, New Hampshire, on July 4, 1828, Ordway spent much of her early adult life in Lowell, Massachusetts. She studied at Ipswich Female Seminary and began teaching in Lowell’s public schools in 1850.
In 1864 she traveled west with the first group later known as the Mercer Girls. In Washington Territory she taught in Coupeville and several Kitsap communities, including Port Madison, Port Gamble, and Port Blakely.
In 1870, Ordway became the opening teacher of Central School, the first schoolhouse constructed by Seattle School District No. 1. She later took part in territorial woman-suffrage organizing and served as secretary of the 1871 convention in Olympia.
In 1881 voters elected her Kitsap County superintendent of schools. Her life sits at the intersection of public education, women’s civic participation, and the fast-changing communities of nineteenth-century Puget Sound.
Timeline
A concise chronology of major documented milestones in Ordway’s life and public work.
Born in Derry
Mary Elizabeth Ordway is born in Derry, New Hampshire.
Studies in Ipswich
Attends Ipswich Female Seminary.
Begins teaching in Lowell
Enters the Lowell public school system.
Travels to Washington Territory
Joins the first Mercer expedition west.
Opens Central School
Serves as the opening teacher of Seattle’s first purpose-built district schoolhouse.
Territorial suffrage organizing
Participates in organizing around Susan B. Anthony’s visit and serves as convention secretary in Olympia.
Kitsap superintendent
Elected to lead Kitsap County’s public schools.
Remembered in Seattle
Dies in Seattle and is buried at Lake View Cemetery.
Finding Lizzie · Massachusetts to Washington
Follow verified and carefully qualified locations connected to Lizzie’s life.
Lizzie’s places
Name on the Map · Kitsap County
A growing public-history collection about the people, communities, and stories behind familiar names across Kitsap.
Names with stories behind them
Ordway Elementary School
Opened in 1978 and named for educator and Kitsap County school superintendent Lizzie Ordway.
Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School
Named for Issei farmer Sonoji Sakai, whose family history is deeply tied to Bainbridge Island.
Bloedel Reserve
The name preserves the legacy of Prentice and Virginia Bloedel and the landscape they shaped.
Woodward Middle School
Named for Bainbridge Review publishers Walt and Milly Woodward.
Moritani Preserve
The preserve carries forward the surname of the Japanese American family who farmed the land.
Fay Bainbridge Park
The park preserves the Fay family name, with the exact naming story still under archival review.
Research standards
This project favors primary records and clearly identified institutional sources. Where evidence is incomplete, the wording stays qualified rather than pretending certainty.
Seattle Public Schools / HistoryLink. Central School history and district chronology.
University of Massachusetts Lowell. Biographical material on Ordway’s early life, Lowell years, and education.
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Historical images and Puget Sound collections.
MOHAI. Portrait and commemorative imagery associated with Ordway.
Bainbridge Island School District. Local school history and Ordway Elementary background.
Washington State Archives and local historical organizations. Supporting material for schools, suffrage activity, and Kitsap communities.
About the project
Kitsap Digital History is a public-history project centered on documented local stories, with Finding Lizzie as its first major biographical collection and Name on the Map as an expanding Kitsap-wide series.