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