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More Info On Liberty 35 School

Vol 12, Iss 28 Oklahoma Territ - I did another search of our database and found some more information concerning the Liberty School 35 School that was in the Valley Township South of the Alva community a few miles.

This is information that we received from Alice Benningfield and was published a few years back. Alice compared it with a photo that she had and said, "I looked at the photos together (mine and yours). I cannot tell who is Ethel and Eva. However, I can say that the second boy in from the left on the first row with blondish hair dark pants and jacket and white shirt is Ernest (Ernie) and the tiniest blond boy dressed all in dark clothes on the front row is Earl.

"In fact the writing goes in order on them but the names are switched. Hope this helps with that picture.

"Please keep me in mind if you get any other Benningfield photos from anyone. I am very interested in the early Oklahoma stuff. Thanks again this has been very helpful. I really enjoy looking at all these old pictures." -- Alice - E-mail: benningfield@cox.net View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Oklahoma Settlement Patterns

Vol 12, Iss 28 Oklahoma Territ - "When Oklahoma became the forty-sixth state in 1907, it could have been described as a patchwork quilt of destroyed Indian reservations. Its citizenry consisted of southern cotton farmers, midwestern wheat farmers, and western cattlemen, with minorities of American Indians, African Americans, and ethnic Europeans. The twentieth century brought new urban "settlers" from Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, making Oklahoma a state of many and varied cultural traditions. " -- Oklahoma Historical Society's - Settlement Patterns in Oklahoma View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Rural One-Room Schools

Vol 12, Iss 26 Oklahoma Territ - We did some research online and found some interesting tidbits concerning the rural one-room schoolhouses they had in the later nineteenth century and early 1900s. In some cases the one-room school houses often served as the community centers and churches and were among the first structures built in Oklahoma Territory. It was the focus of the community and the activities were considered of interest to everyone.

Farmers donated a piece of the land to build a one-room schoolhouse and boarded the teachers. Teachers pay was not much compared to today, but for back then it might have been a decent wage and respectful job for young ladies and men.

Also, I have found where the school session lasted anywhere from 70 days, 100 days to 3-1/2 months.

Early schools were often subscription schools where each child paid $1.00 per month while attending, which usually went to paying the $20 to $25 dollars to the teacher.

Eighth grade level was required for graduating from one-room schoolhouses. Students would gather in the one-room school, where one teacher prepared individual lessons for as many as thirty students.

Paper was a scarce luxury, so students worked on individual slate boards or at the blackboard. Drilling, memorization and recitation were the teacher's tools. Younger students learned by hearing the lessons of the higher levels many times. Furnishings in the room might have included the U. S. flag, a bookcase, maps or a globe, pictures of a president or two, and whatever other decorations the teacher could provide.

Student desks were aligned in rows on either side of a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room. Usually, girls sat on one side and boys on the other. Hooks or nails were provided on the wall at the back of the room, where students hung their coats. There was also a bench for removing overshoes and under which students could place their lunches. Usually there was a crock or bucket for water with one dipper, which everyone used.

Teachers required a stricter standard of discipline than students follow today. At all times, students sat with both feet on the floor facing forward in their desks. When not doing tasks, they kept their hands folded on the desk or in their laps. Students did not speak without raising their hand, receiving permission, and then standing.

Have you ever heard from your grandparents or great grandparents about having to walk seven miles to the one-room schoolhouses? What about stories of a form of punishment where the teacher had a disobedient student draw a small circle high on the blackboard. The teacher then had the disruptive student stretch to place their nose in the circle. For more serious offenses the teacher might require a student to stand for a time with arms outstretched, palms up, holding a heavy book on each hand. A ruler rapped sharply across the hand usually improved a student's behavior or brought roving attention back to the work at hand.

An early school day began for the teacher, who arrived in time to bring in the coal, wood to start the fire and prepare for the day. At 9:00 the teacher emerged from the school house and rang the bell, calling the students to class. Boys would line up on one side, girls on the other. Students would remain standing by their desks for opening exercises. The atmosphere in the classroom was formal, but in spite of the formality it was still a room full of young people with high spirits and the usual pranks.

Teachers in the late 19th century were usually young. Just out of school themselves, often in their late teens and sometimes younger than some of their students.

Some of the other duties of the teacher were administrative, maintenance, nursing, and counseling chores as well. School boards expected teachers to focus all their attention on teaching duties. There was a strict standards of behavior required from all the teachers. School boards hired both men and women, but preferred men to control the older boys in the schools and to do the heavy winter chores.

Also, we found that rarely did men make a career of teaching in one-room country schools. Our grandpa (Wm J. McGill), when not playing professional baseball in the early 1900s taught at various onr-room schoolhouses in northwest Oklahoma.

Teaching was considered a respectable alternative for women. They could not marry, because it was considered unseemly and distracting from their duties. If the teacher was a local woman, she could live at home with her family. Otherwise, she was expected to board with the families of her students. Generally this meant that the teacher shared a room with the children and had no privacy at all.

The rural one-room teachers received low pay, no benefits and no job security. The teaching certificates today were not present back in the one-room schoolhouse era of the late nineteenth century and early 1900s. Only basic three-Rs were taught.

School boards hired teachers for only one term at a time and the least hint of impropriety was grounds for dismissal. It is hard to imagine the dedication of those teachers who persevered. How would they fare in the present teaching situations today?
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Pioneer Life in Early Oklahoma

Vol 12, Iss 26 Oklahoma Territ - Pioneer life in Oklahoma Territory was not easy, but to those who ventured into the wild lands of Oklahoma and Indian Territory it was their dream. It was a ray of light, a chance to own a piece of the American Dream.

It was the late 1800's that the western expansion reached into Oklahoma. 1889 saw the choice portion of Indian Territory opening to white settlement and the first land run. Four years, 1893, Oklahoma Territory opened its lands to the north to white settlement in the second land run.

The first settlers arrived in their covered wagons with few necessities and no luxuries of life. They brought just enough grain with them to plant crops. They lived off the wild turkeys, geese, deer, elk and prairie chickens for their meat.

Their hoes were crude one-room houses built of raw timber and dried blocks of grass and mud. It was not easy keeping their homes warm in winter, even though they kept a small fireplace burning throughout the winter months. The fireplaces, besides providing heat were used for cooking.

A family of eight was considered a moderate sized family for our pioneers back then. Oklahoma's land was mostly grass and clay, which had to be plowed before seeds could be planted a crop could be raised.

Amusements were simple. There were quilting bees. Weddings were occasions of feasting and merrymaking.

Schools in the area were one room log buildings with puncheon floors. Hard long benches served as desks with no backs to them. The studies consisted of three R;s, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Boys and girls usually continued to attend school until they were married. Classes were called to the front of the room to recite the lessons. Members of the teaching profession usually received about $25 per month.

The School house served as a meeting house on Sunday for the religious groups. Itinerant preachers brought their Sunday religious lessons to the settlers. Women would it on one side of the house and the men on the other. After services the preacher would be invited to accompany some member home. The entire congregation would spend the rest of the day listening to and getting the gossip of the neighborhood.

Have you thought lately of those pioneers who came before and laid the first bricks in the communities and brought the first civilization to civilized places. Ask yourself, "Could I do what my pioneers had done?"
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