I understand the first church in Hampshire was also near Levels, over near Three Churches. 1760-ish??? ----- Original Message ----- From: "macbd1" <macbd1@arthur.k12.il.us> To: <WVHAMPSH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 3:45 PM Subject: Re: [WVHAMPSH-L] School History... > Tootsie said in querying where her gg-f attended school: > > >Neil, > >I am speaking of my ggrandfather Isaac White going to school in > >South Branch (the town of.) In his Civil War papers a POLING > >writes that they knew each other in Hampshire and went to school > >together. The 1850 census has my gg-f as a student. > >I know Poling's and White's married in Hampshire and matter a > >fact one of Isaac's daughters m. a Poling in Ohio. > > Tootsie, > After further thinking about this, suspecting that the village of South > Branch had insufficient numbers to support its own school in 1850, that the > nearby town of Levels was within normal school-walking distance for the > times (two miles, maybe less), and that records say Levels had one of the > few school buildings in the county in 1850, I believe it is safe to say, > with a very high degree of likelihood, that your gg-f attended a one-room > log-constructed school in/near Levels in 1850. > > One assumption I make is that the age of your gg-f in 1850 was of > approximate age for grades one to eight. If he were aged 17-18 or older, it > is of course possible he was attending one of the higher education academies > in Romney, possibly boarding there during the school term. It is of course > even possible that your gg-f was boarding in Romney to attend its possibly > 'better' grade school, but I would only suspect this, or the academy case, > if his parents were rather wealthy and your gg-f was some kind of > professional while in his early 20's. > > It's difficult to cover every possible base. Some people in those days, who > may have received only a few years of formal schooling, then 'self-studied' > and trained with professionals such as doctors, lawyers, bankers and > businessmen to attain this status in their adult years. Even today, in my > area where a large Amish settlement is located, and where the Amish children > only attend school through grade eight, there are many who have developed > large businesses, or who use high-tech electrically powered tools (including > computers) during the day -- then go to their homes of limited amenities, > including electricity, after work. > > Comments anybody? > Neil McDonald > > > >