Happy New Year everyone!  Thank you to everyone who has sent messages, telephone calls, bought books and emailed me this year.  Researching about one-room schoolhouses has been such a fulfilling experience.   The people I've met through this experience have enriched my life.  I hope I have done the same for them.

I was so pleased to receive a Christmas card from Judy Jesse.  She is on the Southern Door School Archives Committee and sent me a lovely picture of the newly restored Waniger School in Brussels, Wisconcin.  The doors to this school will be open for children to experience education in a one-room school.  Jesse tells me it is much fun sharing memories and facts with students and how excited they are to get involved.

It is fun sharing past experiences.  Keep those stories coming in the new

Last week, I was the guest speaker at the Smiths Falls Lions Club Christmas Party.  Everyone was so welcoming.  The dinner was delicious (served by students) and the room was festively adorned.  We also had fun stealing presents during a gift exchange.  After I spoke, a lady mentioned, upon learning that I was to talk about one-room schoolhouses, said she was not looking forward to my presentation.  Apparently I won her over as she now found my subject of interest fascinating too.  Perhaps it was because I looked fascinating wearing my fascinator!

Does anyone have any pictures or information about the one-room school Piperville Public in Gloucester South near Carlsbad Springs?

Yesterday, I was in the middle of the hustle and bustle at the Fisher Park Community Centre Christmas Craft Fair.  I met people who had attended one-room schools in Ontario, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island.

Gwen Du Vall Boyles told me a great story during her time at a one-room school outside of Chrysler.  In 1962, her family moved from Cornwall to this rural community.  As this was primarily a French-speaking area, the English children were bused by the local post master, Leo McGillvery, to the one-room school off Highway 43.  The children derived a unique way to ensure they had more time outside to play baseball.  In the spring, they would pick the wild garlic and leeks and stuff as much as possible in and on top of the stove.  By the time the teacher arrived in the morning, there was quite a distinct smell that required everyone to be outside until it abated.  Gwen also recalls frying dew worms on the stove during the rainy weather.

June Akins told me she attended S.S. No. 11 Goulbourn from 1945-1952. As she thumbed through my book, she noticed several people that she knew.

Arriving from London, England to live in a rural community outside of Pembroke near Lake Dore was quite a shock for a minister’s son.  Tom Busing attended Rankin School from 1949-1951 before moving on to his father’s next charge.

As each school in Manitoba came into existence, they were numbered.  Jim Lowe went to No. 544, otherwise known as the Springbrook School in Austin, Manitoba (1947-1955).  He feels he was blessed with excellent teachers.  He spoke fondly of Miss Pasco who was probably only 18 years old when she taught him.  Even though this ‘permit teacher’ didn’t have the teaching certificate from the Manitoba Normal School, she had come from a teaching family and did an wonderful job with her charges.

Gordon Mackenzie was there at the Rose Valley School in Prince Edward Island.  Later his son, Brian attended in 1965 uIt was located between Charlottetown and Summerside in Queen’s County on Lot 67.  The island was divided into lots, and there was a school every three miles so children could walk to them before they were bused to high school in Charlottetown.  Gordon used to throw a big log into the stove to knock out the back of it so the kids would be sent home.  Brian told me of another pupil getting the strap for writing a bad word in the dirt of the teacher’s car.

I'm in the process of updating my website with information about the schools in the Front of Escott Township, obtained from the Leeds and 1000 Islands Historical Society.  Bill Boulton gave me a lot of information that I'll share with you soon (once I type it all out). 

I had a pleasant 300km return trip to Lansdowne, near Kingston.  Many people in the audience I spoke to went to one-room schools in Canada and the United States. 

Margie Clark went to Coles Hill School in Halley, New York.  She remembers a couple of boys wrapping two spotted adler snakes around the handle of the teahcer's car doors!  She was grateful for being born on a farm and going to a one-room schoolhouse.

John Zimmer remembers making bags of newspapers to go to the soldiers in hospital during World War II and wondered if anyone else recalls doing that in school too.  They were placed on the side of the soldier's bed in case they threw up.

Evangeline Chisamore attended S.S. No. 16 - Dulcemaine School from 1938-1946.  Her mother, Eula Patience, attended there with her twin sister, Liza.  She felt she received a good education and remembers the older students helping the younger ones.

Parks Canada has taken over the Genadier Island School, located on Genadier Island in the Thousand Islands.  It is still standing.  A summer resident, Anne Thaxter Eaton, donated most of the books in the school library.

I was delighted to receive the following email about schools in Door County, Wisconcin:

Four years ago, our Southern Door School Archives volunteers were gifted a  one room schoolhouse, which we moved to Southern Door School property and just recently completed the restoration.  We are having so much fun having classes visit and learning how different education was like.  A friend sent me the Little Red Schoolhouse web site and through that I discovered you.  I can't wait to get your book to read and share.  This is my Christmas present to me!  Our restoration project was so rewarding, but now we are realizing that the fun is just starting.

Our School Archives group was formed about ten years ago, with the purpose of preserving the history of all the early schools in our school district.  This has been such a fun project and we have uncovered 37 schools to date.  This generated a project I was involved in this past summer with our local Door County WI Historical Museum, researching all the early schools in Door County, which today total 97, which is quite a few for our little county.  It's exciting to see all the interest this has generated!    
Judy Jesse