With the opening of the new school year throughout Chenango County, it is timely that we return again the Township of Coventry for yet another chapter in the history of one-room schools. Regrettably there are no photos for us to view as a reminder of the early education that our forefathers and/or ancestors received in those primitive schoolhouses of yesterday. In this modern hi-tech age when the majority of students have calculators, laptop computers etc., it is unrealistic for today’s students to comprehend the education of yesteryear.
DISTRICT #7 - JONES OR WATROUS (?)
Again the research by Catherine Bickford, former historian, has to be credited to her book “History of the Town of Coventry: 1900-1975.” Her documentation of Page Brook Road in the Town of Coventry (now County Road #9) is the only historical documentation that is available regarding District #7. This writer has taken the liberty of naming this district with the above names as this school does not appear on the 1863 map, but the 1875 map of Coventry shows families by the above names living close to the site of the former schoolhouse.
On pages 21-23 of the above history of Coventry, Mrs. Bickford wrote the below information relevant to Page Brook Road which we will quote verbatim. Page Brook Road - “At the foot of the hill in another old farm - settled in the early 1800s by Uri Watrous. His daughter, Nettie J. Watrous married Clifford Wylie and their son, Lynn Wylie and his wife Ethel Eldred, owned it from 1913 to 1946 when they sold to Clarence Williamson. The Wylies purchased the school house District #7, and converted it into a home where they lived a few years then moved to Greene. Ruth Williamson (daughter of Clarence and Louella) and her husband, John Bingham, built a log home in the field back of the farm house in 1976 and are still operating the farm. The schoolhouse was sold by the Wylies to Donald and Doris Roberts who lived here several years and sold to Richard D. Howell (son of Duane and Hattie Howell o f Chenango Forks.) Richard is nephew to Earl Howell, Sr. and is an elementary teacher in Greene. The former schoolhouse is the last home on the Page Brook Road in the Town of Coventry, however in the 1900s there was a home just beyond the junction with Bowbell Road. The white birch trees which are around the house are still visible.”
This concluded her brief research regarding District #7. Who erected the original school, what did it took like, again the mysteries of history which perhaps someday might be solved.
DISTRICT #8 - SMALL’S CORNERS
For the history of District #8, Mrs. Bickford researched and the following was written in her above history. As this writer cannot capitalize on Mrs. Bickford’s research, once again her documentation is quoted as she wrote it.
Recollections of Ethelyn (Knickerbocker) Gott
“Alice Wrench was one of the teachers at Drachler’s Corners School. Susie Grover was a teacher in the Lynn Wylie District where I started school when we lived on the McNitt farm. On the north-east corner of Smad’s Corners is the house built in 1946 by Frank Small for his daughter and right next to that is the old School District #8 which is now reduced to use as a storage and a shop.”
Following is part of a letter from Dorothea Krivicich who was a student at this school from 1918-27.
“When I started school in 1918, the first two pupils who arrived, took the water pail across the road to Frank Knickerbockers’ well to fill for the day’s consumption. The pail sat, uncovered, on a shelf in the back corner of the room. A tin dipper, from which we all drank, was suspended from a nail on the wall. When I was in third grade. Miss Jane I. Schneck was our District Superintendent and informed us that the pail was out and we must have a ‘water fountain.’ This was made of pottery, similar to the butter and sauerkraut crocks of the period, with a cover and a faucet at the bottom.
