for
we find that as far back as 1847 or 1848, a Mrs. Dewey opened a school
in Caleb Horn's house. In the next year, Mrs. Jane Dixon, wife of Wesley
Dixon, taught school at the residence of Thomas Dixon, (now the Dan Kring
property). In 1852 Henry Tracy taught a school at the same place. In 1853
and 1854 Mrs. Louis Tucker, a sister of Major Wathen and mother of Mrs.
George Yerion, Miss Anna Tucker and Frank Tucker, taught a very successful
school at her residence on the Tucker farm north of this place. Mrs. Tucker
had the reputation of being a most excellent teacher and she was certainly
a most amiable and intelligent lady. The writer has seen and conversed
with her many times and has nothing but kindly remembrances of her and
her estimable husband. The bodies of both are now buried under the green
sod of the Kappa Graveyard. These various schools were all "pay" schools,
but in 1855, the citizens of this place and vicinity organized a school
district and built the first school house here, just opposite William Brown's
residence. This building was the pride of the average citizen's heart,
for in it and around it clustered the hopes for the Future, and the joy
of the present. In it were held religious services, Temperance Meetings,
singing schools, and exhibitions. The seats were of plank with holes bored
in at the ends and sticks driven in for legs; these legs were rather uneven
but then the floor was rather uneven too and by putting a short leg on
a high place, matters were evened up. Boards were nailed along two sides
of the wall for writing desks for the large scholars. If the other scholars,
sitting on the same long bench kept reasonably still and didn't "joggle"
-- if the wind wasn't blowing and shaking the building, or if the hogs
under the school house were not fighting hard and bumping the floor, a
person could write tolerably well, but as all the desks were deeply and
plentifully carved with initials, hearts and true lovers' knots, it was
not the easiest thing to write on them. The house was occupied as a public
school till the present neat and tasteful building was completed in 1864.
This old school house was moved out onto the Boyd farm and now forms part
of the residence of R. W. Boyd.
The first
teacher in this township of El Paso was Miss Matilda Hassan, next came
Jabez Johnson, then Enoch
-8-
Next
Page
Previous
Page
Link
back to index.