I, too, love to hear stories about our ancestors and like to include in my family file anything I can find regarding how they lived on a day-to-day basis. The following is excerpted from a handout we acquired at the Mountain HomePlace near Paintsville. This is only part of the information. I will post what it has to say about the one-room schoolhouse that was on the O.B. McKenzie property, located on McKenzie Branch, if anyone is interested. - Sharon McKenzie, Pleasant Hill, CA "Like charity and church services, school began in the home. Prior to 1840 education in Kentucky was on a do-it-yourself basis. There were no public schools and professional teachers were rare. Alarmed at the illiteracy in the state, a group of citizens met in 1830 and organized the Kentucky Education Association. Through its efforts and the work of other groups, the legislature in 1838 passed Kentucky's first public school law. Progress was slow and it was well into the 1850s before a workable system of public schools began to evolve. There is little recorded evidence of Johnson County's early efforts at education. However, the history of its formal education began with the election of School Commissioners in the 1840s but the first school building, as such, was not built until 1851, at Flat Gap. The second was built in 1855 at the mouth of School House Branch. This is not to say that education was neglected. However it was managed, by subscription schools, tutors, or parents teaching their own, most of the children of the early settlers were taught at least to read and write. The 1850 census revealed an almost 50% illiteracy rate in Johnson and other Big Sandy Counties. The 1870 census credits Johnson County with substantial improvement in its literacy rate. This must have been due in part to the efforts of Reverend William Jayne, a Baptist preacher and teacher who settled at Flat Gap and opened the Enterprise Academy in 1851. The unusual school turned out teachers who by the state of the art, were unusually well trained. Another outstanding private school, the Medina Seminary, was opened by Reverend John R. Long in 1870 at Oil Springs. In the early days the school authorities placed most of the responsibility for building and supervising the school on the community. They elected neighbors they knew and trusted as trustees. They felt free to use it for meetings and other purposes of interest to the people of the district. The people could truly say, "This is our school."