This week we will take a brief vacation from the extensive history of the Greene schools and return to the Township of German for a history of the above #1 district – the Birdlebough School. There are instances when the mysteries of history are solved and the following article is one! I have to give credit to Mrs. Ruth N. (Burdick) Brown for not only the photos which accompany this article, but additionally the history that she forwarded to my attention.

Mrs. Brown’s information related the fact that the school district was #1 not #2 as I written in my previous article as I was not sure from the photo that I had which district number the Birdlebough district was. For all who are interested in the location of this early educational institution it was located at what is now the intersection of the Birdlebough-Strong and Bentley-Gramich roads boarding close to the Five Streams State Forest. For all who have an exploratory nature, a wonderful place to discover!

This writer will quote directly what Mrs. Brown forwarded to me! “School District #1 in the Town of German was the Birdlebough School and built by the Birdlebough family. It was located on the family farm which belong to my great-grandparents Jacob and Anna Birdlebough and Vernon and Hattie Birdlebough. The Birdleboughs provided room and board for the school teachers of which I will list a few that taught over the years. Lucy Hayes who later married Clark Brown son of Mary Birdlebough. Eva Covell, Gladys Cook, Lucie Maricle, Ethel Carhart who married Lynn Birdlebough and Eula Birdlebough. Most of the families in the area were related either by birth or by marriage. These included the Birdleboughs, the Fosgates, the Vosburghs, the Beckwiths, the Breeds, the Smiths and the Dillenbecks.”