Early Professional Life

Clara became an educator in 1838 for a dozen years in schools in Canada and West Gerogia. Barton worked well as a teacher and knew how to handle rambunctious children, particularly the boys, since as a child she enjoyed her male siblings company.

In 1850, Barton decided to further her education by pursuing writing and languages at the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York.
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Following her studies, Barton resumed teaching in Bordentown, NJ. Miss Barton taught at a "subscription school," where parents of the students chipped in to pay the teacher's salary. One day she noticed dozens of children hanging around street corners. Their parents could not afford the "subscription". She offered to teach in a school for free if the town provided a bulding. The first day, six students showed up, the next 20, and within a year there were several hundred students at New Jersey's first free public school.