I must mention a startling bit of history that the Reimer's Title Search of the property revealed. Tucked way in the back of the search was the recording of a deed dated August 31, 1835, between the Holland Land Company and the First Baptist Church in the Town of Porter. It covered 41 acres of the present property. Then in 1858, 23 years later, the Trustees of the First Baptist Church of the Town of Porter sold the property to John Kelley. It was the first inkling we had had that the First Baptist Church owned property in this area. Upon further research, the pieces of the puzzle fit together. An 1878 history of Niagara County had always stated that the Baptist Church of Ransomville was organized in 1834 and that the services of the church were held for several years in the schoolhouse on Four Mile Creek and that the name of the original organization was the Porter Baptist Church. It stated that the name was changed in 1858. The dates of the purchase and the subsequent selling of the property, 1835 and 1858, fit the situation. Not only that, but since the old school house built in 1830-31 was in use during the early years of the Baptist Church, it is apparent that the church held their services IN the school house located near Calkins Road. So I guess the old school house had served the community well. (It is remarkable what valuable historical information is contained in Title Searches!) But getting back to the school records and the valuable historical information contained in them. Because I tend to be intensely interested in knowing just who lived in this area in the past, I was most excited to put together from the records an almost family history of the different families who had children going to the district school. Between the years 1841 and 1849 the district was required to report the names of parents and the number of their children between the ages of five and sixteen. For instance, it showed that by 1841 Pearsall B. Powell already had a sizeable family. It showed that he had five children of school age in 1841 and 1842. In the years 1843, 44 and 45, he had six children of school age. In 1847, 48 and 49, he was back to five children, indicating that three of the earlier ones were then over age sixteen. But then it also showed that Francis Powley's family was continuing to grow. In 1842 and 43 he had two children of school age; in 44 and 45 he had three, in 47 he had four and in 48 and 49 he had five. But the study of the records also indicated that MANY children attended school after the age of sixteen. For instance, in 1841 the number of children taught that year was 76; however, out of the 76 only 59 of them were between five and sixteen. That would indicate that 22% of the children being taught were over age sixteen. And subsequent years showed the same trend--from 22% to as high as 42% were over sixteen years old. But, coupled with additional information IN the records, it takes only limited imagination to guess the reason why children went to school at such advanced age. It was the short period of time each year that they could attend. For instance, in 1848 the length of the school session that year was nine months, seventeen days. During that school year, out of the 53 students of school age 42 of them attended less than two months, 18 attended between two and four months, 13 attended between four and six months and only one attended between six and eight months. Apparently no one attended the entire nine months of school. It's obvious that farm children had additional responsibilities and therefore it just took them longer to get an education. But from the list of schoolbooks in use over the years, it seems they did get a good rounded education. Daboll's Arithmetic, Morse's Geography, Murray's Grammar, English Reader, Elementary Spelling, Hale's History of the United States, Comstock' s Natural Philosophy, Davies Elementary Algebra, Smith's Astronomy and even Preston on Bookkeeping. Not bad for the 1840s! But what good are schoolbooks without teachers? The subject of teachers was certainly mentioned in the records, but it was rather disappointing that only four teachers were mentioned by name over the years--in 1821 Rachel Underwood who was hired for three months at $1.00 per week; Ben Whitney taught during the winter of 1828 and was paid $30.00; Olive Beals who taught school from April through October 1832 and was paid a total of $14.50; and William Swain who taught the five month winter term in 1847 and was paid $35.76. By the way, it's difficult to ignore the apparent differences in their individual salaries. It appeared that the subject of teachers' salaries, however, almost broke the school board apart. Normally, the school board met only once a year--their Annual Meeting. But it wasn't unusual for them to call a Special Meeting if the situation warranted it. Well, I guess this situation warranted it! The details were very sketchy but the entries went like this: Special Meeting, January 22, 1850. A motion was made to raise $80.00 to pay teachers' wages. There were seven who agreed and a large majority opposed to the motion. Special Meeting, February 26, 1850 [a month later!]. It was necessary to choose a trustee in place of Francis Powley who resigned. After much deliberation it was resolved that Samuel Dusenbury be trustee for the present year. Special Meeting, March 14, 1850 [several weeks later]. It was necessary to choose a trustee in place of Chester Moss who resigned. William Fisher was chosen. Chester Moss then moved for an adjournment. Nothing was mentioned about the teachers' wages in their October Annual Meeting that year but a Special Meeting was held in December. They finally voted that $80.00 be raised for teachers' wages for the ensuing year. By the way, in the entire 53 years covered by the records, that was the only time any one of the trustees resigned.