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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
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Schools In Our Area |
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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1903 Joe Hill School, Union
Township, Tioga County PA
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Joyce's Search Tip - November 2008
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Do You Know that you can search just the
700
pages of School Records on the site by using the Schools button
in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current
What's New Page? You can narrow your search by entering a
township name and a surname and using the Find All Words option |
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Hi Joyce,
I was finally able to scan and enlarge this picture
enough to see the pupils names on the blackboard. I am sending 2
pictures one of the classroom of Joe Hill School and the other an enlarged
copy of the blackboard that clearly shows the date, teacher's name and
the pupils names. I am typing it below to make it easier to add to
your website. I'm also sending a word document of a write up about
Joe Hill school in the Wellsboro paper in 1918. Sorry I do not have
a picture of the outside of the school.
Louise JOHNS Neu
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Joe Hill School
J. N. Reynolds - Teacher
February 20, 1903
Pupils:
Ritnor Sayles
Nelson Stull
Eva Loper
Adaline Sayles
Eddie Loper
Dorothy Sayles
Frank June |
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Joe Hill School
The First Public School in Union Township – Some Historical Data.
Roaring Branch, April 6 – Byron Stickler closed a very successful term
of school on Joe Hill on April 5. About 30 of the Branch scholars
with their teacher, Harry Schmeltzle and several Canton High School students
visited the school on the last day. Nearly half of the Hill school
should have been in High School this winter unless something happens, and
that pretty soon the Joe Hill school will be abandoned.
This was the first public school in Union. Nearly, or quite
100 years ago a family from Connecticut moved into what is now the Spencer
district. He was a shoe maker and taught a half dozen children to
read and write. In 1848 or 50 the first spelling class stood around
two sides of the log building (that was when they stood up and spelled
down. There were about 60 pupils and there was to school at the Branch,
Ogdensburg or Swamp and scholars came from these neighborhoods to Joe Hill.
These were the days when some director of school commissioner examined
the teachers. The first qualification was a good muscle. In
1866 the Hill school graduated its first pupil at Mansfield. Since
then nearly every year there has been someone at the
normal from the Joe Hill school.
Source: Wellsboro Agitator, April 10, 1918
From the Union Township
History (spiral bound book) Page 118
From the 1869 Tioga County maps on CD
that I purchased I'm attaching the bottom image of Union Township.
The school is found in District 7 north of Roaring Branch and just after
the cider mill next to the W. Newell residence.
Louise
Joe Hill School was located two miles north of Roaring
Branch on the Joe Hill Road. No date can be found as to when this
school was built or opened, but in a book written by John L. Sexton, Jr.,
in the year of 1883, the following school directors elected for Union Township
in the year of 1882 were: Thomas Ward, Joseph Brooks, William Spencer and
C. Wheeler.
A list of teachers was found dating back to the
year of 1903 when Gertrude Randall was the teacher; others following were:
1904, Luch Thomas; 1905, J. H. Stull (Jack); 1906, Lynn Carl; 1909-1910,
Nelson Stull; 1911-12, Harry Schmelzle; 1913, Maude Keys; 1914, Jesse Landon;
1915-1916, Clara Bunn; 1917, Lula Carpenter; 1918, Byron Stickler; 1919,
Matilda Sherman; 1920, Margaret Coleman.
According to the records shown, due to lack of pupils,
Joe Hill school was closed at the end of the school term in the Spring
of 1920.
Later on as more families moved into the neighborhood,
the school was reopened again in September, 1925, with Marvin Tebo as teacher,
with 18 pupils and J. G. March as County Superintendent. School Board
members were: C. P. Richter, L. G. Austin, Lizzie Van Vectan, Henry Sechrist
and Hattie Jones, with a partial list of the following teachers beginning
of the 1925 school year until the final closing of this school in 1944:
Marvin Tebo, (two years); Samuel Morse: E. Rowe; Myrtle Gruver; Esther
Stokes; Julia Tebo; Geraldine Williams; Harriet Barrow; Ida Herman, (two
years); and Kate Owens.
This school house is still standing in a grove of
maple trees. The school house and ground was purchased by Mr. and
Mrs. Quay Ward and is presently a part of the Lee Ward farm. This
ends the era of the Little Red School House on Joe Hill.
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 28 MAY 2009
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: Joyce M. Tice
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