If you knew your ABCs, you were pretty much qualified to teach in pioneer Simcoe County in the 1800s – especially if you had the presence and perseverance to control the students in the one-room school. Not every teacher did. Susan Cassidy was the first teacher in Bradford, in 1837 – but apparently found it difficult to manage the older boys. She was only 14 at the time. Cassidy left to teach in New Tecumseth, under Rev. Featherstone Osler. She was replaced in Bradford by teachers John Dissette and John Douglas.
That didn’t mean that men were always better able to control their students. One male teacher at Steele’s Corners S.S. #14 was notorious for the chaos in his classroom. He once agreed to be the defendant in a mock trial. Being found guilty by the students, he was tied up and put in the basement. On another occasion, he was lured into the basement on a pretext, and then imprisoned by the simple expediency of students sitting on the wooden trap doors – until the school inspector arrived later that afternoon.
Learning was a matter of teaching by rote. Pupils from ages five to 16 were expected to memorize their lessons, and addition and multiplication tables. For that, up until 1839, teachers were paid 50 cents per student, per month.
In 1843, Patience Varcoe, then 18 and living in Bradford, went to ‘Jimby’s Corners’ in Innisfil, to teach: “I found the poor settlers were very anxious to have a school, but they were too busy to spare time to build a schoolhouse.” She had to make due with a small log “shanty.” She wrote: “There was only one window of six small lights in the house or shanty; a fireplace made of sticks, straw and mud; the roof was covered with bark, and it was a ‘delightful time’ when the rain came down on us now and then.” She taught for nine months, but since she had only 14 students, and not the minimum 25 required, the township superintendent refused to pay the promised grant and she had to leave.
By 1928, there were 14 Union S.S. or S.S. (school section) one-room schools across West Gwillimbury, in communities that included Dunkerron, Pinkerton, Middleton, Steele’s Corners and Bond Head. Teaching was not a high-paying job. In that year, the average pay in West Gwillimbury was $998 a year. In 1935, during the Depression, the average salary dropped to $660 per year - but rebounded following the Second World War, to an average of $1,260.
Sarah (Early) Riley began teaching at Pinkerton School, Line 11 and 5 Sideroad, in 1949, at a salary of $1,500. “It was an easy transition for me to start teaching at the little one room school as only five years before I had attended a similar school. The Course of Study and all the textbooks were the same. I started teaching with a temporary permit and after two years of successful teaching and two summers at The Normal School in Toronto, along with a senior matriculation from Brampton High School, I eventually had my permanent first-class teaching certificate.” She then taught in Chinguacousy for three years but returned to West Gwillimbury when she married Gordon Riley in 1954.
In the 1950s and early 60s, consolidation led to the building of central schools, and the closure of the one-room schoolhouses. Some were torn down, while others have been turned into private residences.
Source: Governor Simcoe Slept Here: The Legacy of West Gwillimbury.
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