USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Granville > History of Granville, Massachusetts > Part 22
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The pay these teachers received for their labors is of interest. In 1834 this district paid Mr. William Baker "for instructing school three months" $27.00. In 1846 the district paid three dollars a week for a man teacher. In 1847 they paid for teaching twenty weeks in the summer $1.75 per week, and for the board of this
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
teacher $6.95. She may have been slender and a light eater. In 1848 it was voted "that the teacher board about the district sabbaths and through the term, and have no bills brought in for board." It seems to have been usual that the teacher should "board around" in the families which sent children to school.
These people were interested in their schools and proposed to see to it that they got what they were supposed to have. Every year there was chosen a committee, usually five in number, to visit the schools, because at this time such a thing as a Town superintendent had never been thought of, and lest the visiting committee should be disposed to make fewer visitations, it was frequently voted how many times during the year such visits should be made.
Boys could get into mischief one hundred years ago just as easily as they can now, and the Northeast district apparently had its share of that type of children, for we find that in 1834 it was voted "to notify the parents of boys who have damaged the school house, to fix it, and if they don't, to take legal measures to have the same done." That there is no other like entry in the entire thirty years covered by the record speaks pretty well for the boys up in that corner of the Town.
Now and then some voter believed he had a grievance and would bring it up at a school meeting, but such things were smoothed out and in a few years forgotten. On one occasion, however, in 1836, when one of the residents failed to learn of a school meeting which he very much wanted to attend, he missed the meeting, but he was on hand the next time and caused a vote to be passed to the effect that the warnings for all future meetings should be posted not only on the school house, but also "on the chestnut tree at the corner of the road by Elezar Strong's."
The spelling of some of the clerks who made the entries in this ancient record seems curious to us of later generations who have had better educational opportunities. A couple of entries will show their originality in their mode of spelling, but no one can fail to understand what they were driving at. Here is an entry made in 1836: Voted "to chuse tow Comitey to setel with Mr. Wels." Also voted "We agurn this meten fore weaks." Here is another in 1837 :
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THE SCHOOLS
Voted that the Committee "Repre the schooll house and mak chuch repaers as they shall think proper."
For several years their school house had been getting in need of more and more repairs, and it became a question whether or not it was profitable to keep on repairing. The arguments began to get warm and the school meetings more frequent. The only alternative finally was to rebuild the old one or build an entirely new one. Feel- ing ran high. Bitter words were said. Anger came into play. When the regular school meeting was held March 3, 1854, the principal item in the warning was to see what the district would do about a new school house. Various motions were made and all were voted down. Finally it was voted to adjourn the meeting without date. Then some angry and excited citizen jumped up and moved to reconsider the vote to adjourn. This caught somebody napping. The vote to reconsider was carried, and the meeting remained in session. Such a thing as parliamentary law is of no consequence if one is angry enough. Then with the surge of victory in their mental make- up, they voted to have a Committee of nine to consider the matter of a new school house, and after thus accepting the gage of battle, they voted to adjourn to the first Saturday in May. This time no one moved to reconsider the vote to adjourn. We can easily realize the state of turmoil in which the Northeast district found itself. While the first Saturday in May was approaching, much electioneer- ing went on. Each side was eager to have its full voting strength at the meeting about to occur. Neighbor talked with neighbor. The need for a new school house was debated pro and con. At last the first Saturday in May arrived. Neither side was ready. The meeting came to order and the only thing done was to adjourn till May 27th. It was the lull before the storm. In the intervening days, whether the farm work lagged or progressed, whether the crops were planted or not, whether it was fair weather or foul, everyone got ready for May 27th. When that day arrived, they gathered at the leaky old school house ready for battle. Every person in the district who had a right to vote was present. The meeting came to order. The motion was made that the district proceed to build a new school house. There was some debate, but not much. Every man knew which way he was going to vote. The moderator put the motion and every man
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
voted. Fourteen for and thirteen against. We can almost see the smiles of triumph on the faces of the winners and the looks of chagrin on the faces of the losers. Still, while there is life there is hope. The losers, after a moment's thought, moved to adjourn the meeting for two weeks. This motion, strangely enough, was carried. Perhaps some one else was caught napping, or perhaps some voter did not correctly understand the motion. It would seem that some were over confident, and having won out, rested on their laurels, for when the adjourned meeting was called to order June 10th the winners at the previous meeting did not have their ranks complete and in fighting trim. The opponents of the new school house were all there and moved to rescind the vote to build a new school house. This was carried. They then moved not to build a new school house. This was carried. That was too much. They had rubbed the sore spot too hard. Pandemonium broke loose. Probably accusations of unfairness, cheating and all kinds of skulduggery were made and denied. It was a real tempest in a teapot. The last entry by the clerk is this: "The meeting broke up without order or adjournment." Angry? Indeed they were. However, it was a case of great cry and little wool, for they shortly did have a new school house.
The records of the Southeast School District are, fortunately, more complete than those of other districts, being complete from October 7, 1824, to the date when the school districts were legis- lated out of existence, i.e., January 1, 1883, with a few scattering sheets of earlier date. The first school house of which we have much knowledge in this district was in existence as early as 1818, and, without doubt, was of the one room type then in general use in this part of New England. It stood on the west side of the road from Granville to Granby, nearly opposite the house formerly owned and occupied by Ralph H. Hiers. That it was heated (?) by fire in a fireplace seems certain in view of one of the votes passed at a school meeting September 14, 1818, when it was voted to have one quarter of a cord of good hard wood "per scholar, cut and corded three feet, to be got by the first of January next," and that those who did not furnish their quota of wood, pay $1.50 to the committee.
The chief business transacted at these school meetings was to decide when the terms of school should begin and how long they
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THE SCHOOLS
should continue, to provide for furnishing the fire wood and to repair the school house. Speaking generally, the meetings of one School District were like those of any other District.
But times were changing, for at a meeting on October 7, 1824, it was voted "that the front chimney be filled up" and "that one quarter of a cord of two foot wood to each scholar (be procured) to be well cut, split and corded suitable for a stove." So it seems that the stove had displaced the fireplace, and incidentally used only two thirds as much fuel and probably gave out four times as much heat.
Some one in this district had ideas about thrift, for at a school meeting on March 1, 1830, it was voted "that the Treasurer be directed to loan the school money till wanted to pay the summer teacher." There is no record of what was done as a result of this vote, but not long after that date the district voted to investigate the doings of a former officer. From this we may see that investiga- tions are no new invention.
Every year the school house needed to be repaired and finally it came to the point where it became necessary to choose between extensive repairs and a new building. At last, after having voted several times to build a new school house, and then rescinding their action, it was voted in 1838 to accept the offer of Jeptha Rose to give the district a "life lease" of a lot for the new building. The "life lease" turned out to be a deed of the land to be used for school purposes and when it was not so used, it was to revert to the grantor or his heirs. This seems to have been the usual method of securing sites for school houses in those days. A committee was chosen to superintend the construction and another committee to procure a plan for the new building and submit it to a later meeting. This was such an important matter that they held school meetings about every two weeks throughout the year. At an adjourned meeting held December 3, 1838, it was voted "to have the house painted red and trimmed with white before we call it completed," and also "to choose a committee of one to ascertain Joseph West's claim, if any, on the land where the school house now stands." It had been previously voted to build it twenty-two feet wide and thirty feet long and to raise $250.00 to pay for it. At a further adjournment,
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
on December 15th, it was voted "to accept J. Rose's offer to give the district land across the highway from the old school house by the district removing the old house within six months after the new one is completed. The said land is to be three rods in front and two rods and three paces in back, for which he is to give a deed to the District." At the next adjournment two weeks later, the plan had arrived and they were really getting to business. It was then voted to have the posts ten feet between joints, with two posts under the middle beam "turned or worked 8-square" and that the plan drawn by S. H. Whitney for the frame be accepted. The bid of Jeptha Rose to make and put up the frame for $27.50 was accepted. And so in the spring and summer of 1839 the new school house was built on the east side of the road and nearly in front of the house formerly occupied by Ralph H. Hiers, and it was painted red trimmed with white.
Probably the old school house showed the marks of many a jack knife, even as other New England school houses did, but there was to be an embargo on whittling the new school house, for on October 7, 1839, it was voted "that if any scholar shall be detected in cutting the benches in the School House, his parents or guardian shall pay twenty-five cents damage." Note the wording of the vote: "shall be detected in cutting the benches." Having in mind the normal boy of the New England hills and his fondness for "seeing if his knife would cut," I venture to say that the new benches were as well scarred as the old ones, in spite of the vote. Later in the same month it was voted "to sell the old school house to the highest bidder," and it was sold to James Root for $6.50. The old stove, however, was put in the new house, so that with the beginning of the school year in the fall of 1839 the new school house was in use.
It is of interest to note, in view of the present so-called hard times when so much is said about wages being low, that in the year when this school house was opened for use, the school committee was instructed "not to pay but $1.50 per week for a summer teacher." And further, in 1850 the district voted "that we employ a Female teacher": "that she have a steady boarding place": and "that it (the cost of her board) be put up to the lowest bidder tonight (October 20) and John Phelps took it at 95 cents per week." Then again as to wood; in 1843 William G. Gibbons, the lowest bidder,
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agreed to furnish six cords of two foot wood, with no red oak and no small limbs, for sixty-eight cents per cord. The next year he bid off the wood at fifty-one cents per cord. It should be borne in mind that these prices meant wood split to proper size and piled in the shed. In 1846 the district tried a different plan about furnishing the wood. It was voted "that each scholar pay ten cents for wood." This scheme apparently did not work very well, for it was not tried again. At a meeting on March 3, 1854, it was voted "to have a stone wall in the rear of the school house" and Jeptha Rose agreed to build it (about twelve rods) for one dollar per rod. Some of that wall has since been removed, but the remainder is still standing.
Like many new houses, there were neither trees nor shrubbery to make shade and give relief from the heat of summer, so at the regular annual meeting in 1856 it was voted "to have the committee make application to the Selectmen to have maple trees set out in front of the house." This was accordingly done. The trees were set out and now seem to be in the prime of their youth after nearly eighty years.
The question of water for the school came up after a time and in 1864 it was voted not to dig a well. The next year it was voted to allow individuals to dig a well near the school house provided it was no expense to the district. Finally, after more votes in 1865, the well was dug the next year, and at a meeting November 7, 1866, it was voted "to accept D. Searles bill of Forty-three Dollars for digging well, furnishing pump," etc. Then the school had its own water.
Soon after 1860 the number of pupils in the district had increased to the point where the school house was crowded. This caused much discussion. Some thought best to build another room as an addition to the present building, others said it would be better to have a new building nearer the Corners, because the center of population in the district had changed, still others thought there was no need to do anything about it. But the district was facing a condition and it kept pressing for solution. Then a happy thought came. Perhaps they could divide the district into two. This idea was at first voted down, but the principle had taken root. If the district could not be divided, why not divide the pupils? One division could be served
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
at the school house and the other at some place at the Corners. On February 23, 1864, it was voted that all pupils over ten years of age were to go to the school house as well as those under that age living on Sodom, Silver and Bacon streets. A month later it was voted to have a committee "to see Mrs. Phelps and the Trustees of the Academy to see if they can obtain a room in the Academy for the school." Temporarily the difficulty was overcome, but the perpetual argument about a new school house would not die, and many were the meetings held upon this question, and no little temper was lost over it. The district would vote to build a new building on the same site. Then it would vote not to build it on that site, but somewhere else. Then it would vote not to build a new building, but to repair the old one. And so it went back and forth according to which side had the greater number of voters at the meetings. At last there were only two sites considered; one where the school house stood and the other on land offered by James O. Rose, nearer the village. Then upon petition of the taxpayers in the district, the Selectmen issued a warrant for a school meeting to be held at the school house on June 19, 1871. The late Lester B. Dick- inson was at that time clerk of the district and on June 12th he served the warrant by posting one copy on the school house and another copy in the post office at the Corners, all in conformity with the regulations of the district and the laws of the Commonwealth.
Three days later the question of building a new school house was settled. It was settled unexpectedly, quickly and finally. On the night of June 15, 1871, the school house burned down. That meant a new building. The next entry in the school record is as follows: "Pursuant to the foregoing warrant the voters of the South East School District in the East Parish of Granville met on the ruins of the late school house in said District." The articles set forth in the warrant were disregarded. There was only one item of business done. A committee was chosen "to see if they cannot decide upon some location for a new school house which the district will accept and report at an adjourned meeting." Two days later (June 21) it was voted "that the district locate a school house on the lot of James Rose joining the Brook across the highway from Noble & Cooley drum shop."
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THE SCHOOLS
Building operations were at once begun and the two-story school house by the brook was built in very quick time. At a meeting of the district March 11, 1872, it was reported that the building had been built at a cost of $3520.91. The building committee was com- posed of John A. Root, Silas Noble, Bevil C. Dickinson, Edward Holcomb and Orville Carpenter. This building served the district until all the schools were taken over by the Town by virtue of Chapter 219 of the Acts and Resolves of 1882, and it continued to be used for a school house by the Town until it was abandoned in 1933, when the new Village School building at the eastern edge of the village was erected. The old building was demolished in 1935.
Some interesting facts about the well nigh forgotten school in North Lane, East Parish, are taken from the original school regis- ter of that school for 1870-1871. There were each year at that time, two terms of twelve weeks each. The summer term began May 2, and ended July 22. The winter term began November 8, and ended January 28, 1871. The teachers were paid six dollars a week. The teacher that summer was Amanda A. Wells and in the winter Lizzie Maloney. The names of 28 pupils appear in the list of those attending the summer term, and their ages range from Michael Arnold at seventeen years to tiny Mary Clapp who is credited with three years and seven months.
A curious feature of this old record is the amazing number of times the pupils were tardy. One child who was present 33 days during the term was tardy 31 times. Another who was present 23 days was tardy 20 times. Five pupils were tardy more than half the time and fourteen more than one third of the time. It would seem that punctuality was not one of the subjects taught in that school at that time. Attendance was much better in the winter term, eleven being present every day and five having no tardy marks.
Perhaps the best way to get a fairly good picture of this school is to note the names and ages of the pupils. The names of the girls were registered in one group, and the names of the boys in a separate group in accordance with New England tradition, which frowned upon the mingling of the sexes.
name
Emma Twining
yrs 12
mos 6
name William Linch
yrs 15
mos
4
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
name
yrs
mos
name
yrs
mos
Bridget Roach
12
1
Jerry Shea
11
8
Katie Linch
12
6
Georgie Miles
10
7
Bridget Sullivan
10
5
David Roach
10
5
Julia Linch
10
10
Charley Randall
8
2
Nellie Shea
9
Timmie Miles
7
1
Nettie Crocker
10
3
Roger Miles
5
1
Elma S. Stow
8
3
Johnnie Roach
5
5
Katie Roach
8
Burton Phelon
6
3
Mary Shoughrough
8
1
Jackson J. Twining
6
4
Katie Shea
6
4
Michael Arnold
17
Katie Sullivan
9
2
Jimmie H. Shea
4
Nancy Shoughrough
7
7
Mary Clapp
3
7
Mary Sullivan
7
3
Emma Randall
6
It should be remembered that the town did not furnish school books in those days. Parents sending children to school were re- quired to equip their children with such books as they thought necessary. There was no such thing as uniformity in the books used. There were more varieties of text books than there were colors in Joseph's traditional coat. Teachers who had to get along with this drawback must have been very adaptable to circumstances and had rather rough and ready methods. It is remarkable that the pupils acquired as much education as they did.
Where this particular country school flourished in 1870, only one house occupied as a permanent dwelling now remains. In the entire area served by this school the population, the houses and barns, and the school house have all vanished. Fields once cultivated and pro- ductive have been abandoned and are now growing up to brush and trees. This remarkable change has occurred in less than three quarters of a century, and is chiefly due to the fact that nearby municipalities have acquired the land to protect their supplies of drinking water.
Without doubt the records of other school districts are equally interesting, were they available, and very likely they would show substantially the same difficulties; repairs, fuel, teachers, and per- haps a new school house. They had no trouble over transportation of pupils. Each family had the duty of getting its own children to
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THE SCHOOLS
school and furnishing them with books. Neither the district nor the Town had any obligations in that matter. The principal duty of the Town toward the schools seems to have been merely to raise money to pay for the instruction in the schools and to have a committee to take a sort of general oversight over them. It was always voted in Town meeting how the money appropriated for support of the schools should be divided and very generally there was pulling and hauling over the method of apportionment, each district voting for the scheme which would secure for it the most money. In 1864 a new method was devised. Theretofore it had been divided one half on the basis of the relative grand lists in the several districts and one half on the basis of the relative number of pupils in the various districts. Now a new element was injected into the method. It was voted to divide the school money one third on the list basis, one third on the pupil basis and one third among the districts equally, regardless of the amount of the grand list or the school population. Due to the clumsiness of the ancient school system prevailing in Granville, the Town was sometimes the victim of a little sharp prac- tice on the part of the districts. If a district was dissatisfied with its share of the appropriation, it would sometimes have its school continue in session after its share of the town money had been exhausted and then send in a bill to the Town for the deficiency. The only thing the Town could do was to pay it. Then too, the districts sometimes worked it this way. They would have their school in session a lesser number of weeks than their town money would warrant and then use the balance for purposes other than instruction. The Town put a stop to this sort of thing in 1873 when it was voted that each district must have six months of school instruction and no more at the expense of the Town in each year.
Without doubt the Town School Committee had always been duly organized with chairman and clerk, but if so their records prior to 1875 have not been located, but in that year either a new com- mittee was elected or the old one turned over a new leaf, for the records beginning then are fully and neatly kept. The heading in the record book is: "Records of the School Committee of Gran- ville." At that time the members of the Committee were Emerson C. Rose, George D. Felton and George H. Atkins. Mr. Rose was
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
chosen chairman and Mr. Felton clerk. The record starts with a census of the school pupils in town between the ages of five years and fifteen years inclusive, the total number being 281. The names of the various teachers are given, as well as the wages paid. In 1877 teachers were paid from five dollars to eight dollars per week, depending apparently on the size of the different schools.
Prior to this time, the different districts had been designated by names, which in some instances were a source of confusion. So, in 1878 the Committee assigned numbers to the school districts as follows :
In East Granville
In West Granville
Center No. 1
Beech Hill No. 7
South Lane
No. 2
Center No. 8
Southeast
No. 3
Southwest No. 9
Northeast
No. 4
South Lane No. 10
North Lane
No. 5
Hollow No. 11
Stowe
No. 6
and these numbers were used to identify the various districts until the district system was abolished by law.
Another innovation occurred in 1881. The series of readers used in the schools theretofore was the so-called Analytical Readers, but Mr. Felton thought a change would be beneficial, so after consider- able deliberation it was decided to change to the Franklin Readers. In order to accomplish this change, the Town bought the books from the publishers and the members of the Committee sold them to the parents of the various pupils.
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