This week we will take a brief vacation from the extensive history of the Greene schools and return to the Township of German for a history of the above #1 district – the Birdlebough School. There are instances when the mysteries of history are solved and the following article is one! I have to give credit to Mrs. Ruth N. (Burdick) Brown for not only the photos which accompany this article, but additionally the history that she forwarded to my attention.
Mrs. Brown’s information related the fact that the school district was #1 not #2 as I written in my previous article as I was not sure from the photo that I had which district number the Birdlebough district was. For all who are interested in the location of this early educational institution it was located at what is now the intersection of the Birdlebough-Strong and Bentley-Gramich roads boarding close to the Five Streams State Forest. For all who have an exploratory nature, a wonderful place to discover!
This writer will quote directly what Mrs. Brown forwarded to me! “School District #1 in the Town of German was the Birdlebough School and built by the Birdlebough family. It was located on the family farm which belong to my great-grandparents Jacob and Anna Birdlebough and Vernon and Hattie Birdlebough. The Birdleboughs provided room and board for the school teachers of which I will list a few that taught over the years. Lucy Hayes who later married Clark Brown son of Mary Birdlebough. Eva Covell, Gladys Cook, Lucie Maricle, Ethel Carhart who married Lynn Birdlebough and Eula Birdlebough. Most of the families in the area were related either by birth or by marriage. These included the Birdleboughs, the Fosgates, the Vosburghs, the Beckwiths, the Breeds, the Smiths and the Dillenbecks.”
The photos accompanying this article shows the schoolhouse as it appeared in the 1940’s approximately ten years after closing. The photo of students are partially identified as follows:
Back row - 4th girl was Grace Brown - last lady on back row was Eva Covell - teacher- Front Row: 3rd person left to right is Robert Birdlebough, last girl on the right is Ruth Birdlebough and her mother Hattie Birdlebough and Mrs. Brown assumes this photo was taken about 1912.
In closing Mrs. Brown wrote that Ruth Birdlebough Burdick was her mother and the information above was to the best of her knowledge.
As this writer has written numerous times before, the pages of the book of history are always left open for new historical information. And once again the plea that if anyone has school history about any of the district schools throughout Chenango County, do not destroy it; place it where it will be accessed by future generations. Once it is destroyed, it is gone forever.