Early Days of Franklin Township Schools |
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| Decatur County Journal Leon, Decatur County, Iowa May 24, 1906 EDITOR JOURNAL:--It seems an opportune time to give, especially to the younger readers of the JOURNAL, some reminiscences of early school days in the district schools in Franklin Township, and as it comes from one of the smart alecs, you might well expect something extraordinary. The school house at which the writer first attended school, was located one-half mile north and one-fourth mile west of Fairview Church on what was then called the Leon and Osceola Road, which angled across a beautiful stretch of prairie from where Fairview school house now stands to what was formerly Green Bay, over which the old buckboard, drawn by a pair of tiny steeds, assisted Uncle Sam in distributing the mails. Well, the little school ship weighed anchor and launched out with HANNAH SMITH, later LOREY, but at present EVANS, of Leon, at the helm, with a small band of urchins at her side, prominent among whom was the writer of this article, who at that time still donned the dress such as was worn by the fair sex of our country and which became a source of no little grievance to the wearer from the fact that my brothers, who were bad boys and were a little older than myself, persisted in calling me "sis", a name which I abhorred from the beginning. Perhaps some of the readers of the JOURNAL will say, "For land sake, why didn't the mothers dress their young men in pantaloons?" Well, let me tell you some reasons for doing as they did. 1st. Fashions have changed somewhat over in Paris during the past few decades. 2nd. Cloth from which to make garments at that time was very high and we, much of necessity, economize by wearing our garments as long as they were any good. 3rd. Self pride had not yet overran this country. 4th. This country was not yet rid of the army greyback and the seven year itch. So you see, the mothers were quite busy preparing food, looking after sanitary regulations, etc. and could not devote much time to making wearing apparel as at the present day. The little school ship glided peacefully along and we pupils were learning quite rapidly. MISS SMITH was painstaking and her methods of teaching about as follows: Twice 2 was 4, two times 4 are 8; twice 5 ought to be 10, and so on. About the same as they teach mathematics now. The school fixtures consisted of benches, a blackboard and a gad. The books were principally of the old elementary types of readers and spellers; not so costly as at present. A good lead pencil cost 10 cents, a slate, 25 to 30 cents. The pupils had to walk pretty straight or get a licking, the writer excepted, who was a very obedient lad of a few summers. Our teacher was a good singer and used to entertain us with such songs as, "We'll Hang Jeff Davis to a Sour Apple Tree," "Glory Hallelujah", etc. Our hats were home made of rye straw braided by our mothers. In course of time it was deemed best to move the school house to a location more convenient to the pupils, who were few and scattered. At an appointed time, when the ground was covered with snow, the building was placed on skids, several teams hooked on and the building was moved one-half mile north and one-fourth mile west where it remained on the prairie, until it was sold and torn down. After the school house was moved, a term of school commenced, and at the close of the term, a summer term was taught. A big fellow who stood 6 feet tall was employed to teach the winter term. When the day arrived he appeared with a gad, some six feet long, and at the sight of that 6 foot salamander, the chills chased each other up and down my spine and I believe my school mates felt similar to myself, as we knew he had whipped a boy at another place so hard that the boy was confined to his bed for a time. This teacher, although very strict, proved to be a good instructor. There was a class in mathematics that was far advanced, also some good readers. Among those who attended this school who have become prominent were: One missionary to India, one lawyer of no little prominence, one college professor who has the reputation of being one of the best educators in Iowa, besides several successful school teachers, farmers, merchants, etc. We now jump to a period of time to the time when LEE HARVEY, of Leon, was employed to teach a winter's term of school. MR. HARVEY was equal to the occasion. He was a very intelligent and promising young man. Well, LEE, as we called him, taught four winter terms in succession. MR. HARVEY was a kind-hearted man and was held in high esteem by the majority, if not all, the pupils. I will bring this very incomplete sketch to a close and if it fails to drop into the editor's waste basket, I may come again. ~ J.N. MACHLAN. Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert August 23, 2001 |
 Keith Murry, Myra Murry, Kara Weiershasuer |
| Decatur County Journal Leon, Decatur County, Iowa Thursday, March 15, 1906 'AN OLD SCHOOL REPORT' I.N. MACHLAN, of Franklin Township, kindly furnished the JOURNAL with a report of a school taught by HELEN M. WHITNEY during the winter of 1863 and '64. At that time the school house was located on the NATHAN PERDEW farm, afterwards owned by B.Y. WALKER and now owned by F.P. MORELAND. The building was finally moved to W.A. MACHLAN's farm and used by him as > a residence for several years. According to the report, school began December 7, 1863, and continued two months. Thirty-nine pupils were enrolled whose ages ranged from 5 to 18 years. The oldest pupil was ROBERT DOWNY, aged 18, and the youngest were IRENA CLINKENBEARD and FRANCIS CLARK, each aged 5 years. The branches taught were orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography. The members of the geography class were GEO. W. SAMSON, EDGAR CURRY and MALINDA WALKER. The members of the grammar class were CYRUS WALKER, MARY MCINTIRE, ALBERTO CLARK, EDWIN SAMSON, MATILDA DOWNY, MALINDA WALKER and EMMA ROBERTS. Some of the pupils of the school are dead and but few of them are now living in our county. Perhaps someone will furnish the JOURNAL information about the teacher, HELEN M. WHITNEY. Following is a list of the pupils of the school: |
| CYRUS WALKER. | HANSFORD WALKER. | CLAYBORNE WALKER. |
| MARY MCINTIRE. | DARLISCO HENRY. | ANNETTE CLARK. |
| ALBERTO CLARK. | JOSEPH PEARCE. | SOLOMON BRADLEY. |
| ALONZO CLINKENBEARD. | GEO. W. SAMSON. | MARY SAMSON. |
| JAMES SAMSON. | EDWIN SAMSON. | EDGAR CURRY. |
| ROBERT DOWNEY. | MATILDA DOWNEY. | CATHERINE DOWNEY. |
| ELIZA DOWNEY. | WM. K. DOWNEY. | CHAS. F. DOWNEY. |
| IRENA CLINKENBEARD. | THOS. CLINKENBEARD. | SARAH HOLLINGSHEAD. |
| JOHN PEARCE. | CRUSOE WALKER. | MALINDA WALKER. |
| FRANCIS CLARK. | WILDY WILLIAMS. | DENMAR CURRY. |
| ANTHONY ROBERTS. | EDMUND DICKESON. | CHAS. DICKESON. |
| HANNAH DICKESON. | SARAH DICKESON. | ELLEN ROBERTS. |
| EMMA ROBERTS. |
| Copied by Nancee (McMurtrey) Seifert, August 23, 2001 |
| Original page created by Sharon Becker 2013, updated 2017; reformatted by Conni McDaniel Hall Oct 2019. |
| Schools Directory *** Decatur County IAGenWeb |