Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....Schoolhouse of the Past September 8, 2021
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 January 29, 2022, 6:45 pm

The Herald News Newpaper September 8, 2021
SCHOOLHOUSES OF THE PAST
BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT
THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 
9/8/2021 EDITION

I spent some time this month in The Breckinridge County Archives looking up the
oldest newspaper articles on file.  Copies of The Breckinridge News were the oldest,
starting in 1878, and I began skimming their contents for something of interest. 
Evidently teachers were not abundant and students in some areas had to travel
further to school if they had no teacher or school in their small town.  Therefore
when changes were made it was made public in the newspapers.  I noticed in nearly
every issue there was a mention of a schoolhouse and/or teacher of that particular
school, so I thought it an interesting tidbit of county history.

The following are some of the earliest schools mentioned in Breckinridge County:
10/2/1878 – High School at Cloverport has between 109-70 students, average 152.
2/13/1880 – William Fraize of Antioch Schoolhouse is in bad health.
4/16/1881 – Hayden Bramlett opened school at Liberty Schoolhouse in Rosetta. 
Leander Bruner is teaching the school at Mason Schoolhouse.  Laura Robbins will be
teaching school at Chambers Schoolhouse on 3rd Monday in April.
6/22/1881 – Miss Sallie Parr is teaching at Raymond Schoolhouse.  Miss Nelia
Brashear’s school closed at Burch Schoolhouse District #79 (from Mooleyville News). 
Miss Emma Gores school closed at Mercer Schoolhouse.  Last day is June 4 (Falls of
Rough).
10/4/1882 - Miss Emma Dyer will take chare of school at Falls of Rough.
10/18/1882 – Miss Ada Drury has taken charge of the Bethel School two miles below
Bewleyville.
12/13/1882 – McGavocks Schoolhouse in Breckinridge County was destroyed by fire last
week.
2/28/1883 – Ed McQuaddy is teaching school at Mattingly.
9/26/1883 – Miss Mollie Goff is teaching school at Thomas Ryan’s Schoolhouse.
10/10/1883 – The Schoolhouse at Union Star was set on fire last Sunday and burned to
the ground.
	11/28/1883 – Jane Keith will be teaching at Rock Lick.
Miss Annie Raitt will be teaching the school at Long Lick.
		Miss Mamie Smith is teaching the school at Garfield.
		Miss Emma Board from Hardinsburg is teach at Freedom School.

Interesting notes about these references to the old schools:
Why the variation in numbers of students at Cloverport?  Perhaps many students
dropped out at that age all together.  At this time many kids didn’t go further than
the 8th grade at all.  Another possibility is that the kids only went to school when
there was no farm work to be done (such as crops).  Many people needed every person
in their family to help with for example, tobacco, to make it financially.

Notice that several schools had burned.  Wood stoves, of course, were dangerous but
the most common form or heating.  When schoolhouses sat empty for a season or a
brief time while they may not have had a teacher or enough students, vandalism often
occurred.

Most of the teachers were women and unmarried, although we see a few men’s names
here.  I suppose it was easier for a young woman to travel to an available teaching
position before she was married and tied down with responsibilities of a family.  I
know personally that my grandmother, Fannye Dyer Drane, taught but gave it up after
she married in the early 1900’s.

I love to see the family names mentioned in old documents as well as the names of
small communities that may not exist today.  Notice the last name McQuaddy spelled
with two “D’s for instance, how they almost always used the word “schoolhouse” and
not just “school”, and the larger number of schools than there are now.  Many of the
communities mentioned are now only a road name or a nickname for a spot in the road
where in the late 1800’s the schoolhouse was an important part of the community that
helped bring people together.  These bits of history just remind us of how things
change but names and memories still linger all around us.  Let us look, remember,
and learn.


Additional Comments:
Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft
(reporter) and the Herald News newspaper, from their 9/8/2021 edition.


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