This week there is a mystery that perhaps some reader might shed light and information on. The photo with this article gives us a took at a former schoolhouse that has been remodeled to a private home. Where this schoolhouse is located and what district it is remains a mystery.
When this photo was taken by Pat Stafford in 1987 she possible thought that it was District #16. However, if any reader can shed light on this please do not hesitate to contact the Afton Historian either by mail or phone. Mr. Decker’s mailing address is 335 State Highway 41, Afton, New York 13730 or phone 639-2720. Any information received will be duly credited by Mr. Decker and the possibility of an article relevant to the mystery is in the future.
As was written last week we will continue with the balance of “Teachers Memories” as compiled and written by Ann Christie Tobey.
“The best roads then were not necessarily terrific, and the road from Afton up to the school district was just dirt/mud/snow. Mother learned to drive over the summer and bought a Chevy coupe. The car tipped over twice, but each time someone came along and turned it right-side-up. She went home week-ends to Norwich and drove back and forth when the roads were passable. In winter when the roads weren’t passable by car, she took a train on Sunday afternoon from Norwich to Sidney and then another train to Afton, where somebody would pick her up with a horse and sleight to take her back u p. The trip was reversed on Friday afternoon. (Note: these train rides would be the old O&W RR from Norwich to Sidney and from Sidney to Afton -would be the former Delaware & Hudson now the Canadian Pacific.)
Mother had 7 students across grades 1-8, drawn from 3 local families: Roy, Doris, Edna, and Marie Knapp; Doris Meek, Stanley Kelly, and Philetus Seeley (who was names for the local doctor, Philetus Hayes). The students covered the range of ability as well as age: Mother remembers that she could drill one student on arithmetic facts all week and then he would simply forget them over the week-end. She also remembers them as nice kids.
The land was very rocky as well as hilly, and the families were extremely poor. They made the most meager living from farming and had virtually none of the basic amenities such as running water or indoor plumbing or electricity-one shared water from a pail drawn from the well, had an outdoor privy, and used kerosene lamps.
Mother boarded at Albert and Hattie Seeley’s, who were very poor. Her mattress was made or corn husks, and there was no real heat in her bedroom, though there was a stovepipe that went up through the floor. The bathroom was an outside privy, and for nights a pot under the bed. They must have been dreadful for a city girl to see and listen to. Although the poverty was extreme, the parents cared very much about their children and wanted them to get an education. Mother remembers frequently getting notes from Mrs. Knapp, which were always signed “Lovingly, Lydia.”
Roy Knapp would start the wood fire for the school, but Mother was responsible for the hard job of keeping it going. She took a pail of water from Seeley’s to school for drinking water, and of course there was an outdoor privy. She used to take food back with her on the week-ends as well as clothing for the children.
Mother was responsible for teaching all the subjects, including music and art, and she tried to give the children as much more as she could. A playground was made with “equipment” like a swing hung between two saplings, and she brought books from home. A major production was a Christmas program. None of the children knew anything about Christmas to begin with, so the story had to be taught and props invented. Furthermore it was known that Mother was a Catholic, which made very suspect in an area where the Ku Klux Klan was quite active. Only one child had a doll, so be default she became the Virgin Mary, and blankets were used quite satisfactorily for the required robes. The parents all came to see the program and were very pleased.
Mother remembers being given a present of arbutus for St. Patrick’s Day. An itinerant had been digging for ginseng root; he found the arbutus and took it to the Catholic teacher, who would presumably be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The year ended with a picnic Mother provided for the kids; some of her friends came from Norwich to participate.
Mother planned to return for a second year, but toward the end of the school year she decided she had had enough. She had worked week-ends and vacations during high school in the office at the W. H. Dunne Company in Norwich (they were the Victory Food Store chain, which became Great American many years later). They offered her a full-time job in the office at about $15 a week; although it was a major cut in pay, the living conditions in the school district were so deplorable that she decided to end her formal career.”
Thus we close this chapter of history relevant to the one-room schools of the Afton district with the thoughts - would the teachers of today consent to the teaching conditions prevalent in the early decades of the twentieth century.