Drums and the three R’s. Part 2

#40: Drums and the three R’s. Part 2: No, Ronnie!! Bang the chalk-board erasers OUTSIDE!

Year 1 done! Gee! Pretty GOOD!
It was all downhill from there, though.
Oh, and don’t look at the “Behavior” columns.
If you do, just remember,
I TOLD you I didn’t want to go to school at that age!

As I suggested at the end of the previous post, now that we’ve been schooled on what opportunities, at least for Primary Education, were available to the Drums of Drums, we can turn to how those Drums took advantage of the opportunities they found available to them. As a way of “personifying” this idea, I entitled it “Drums and the three R’s. Part 2: No, Ronnie!! Bang the chalk-board erasers OUTSIDE!” If you are unfamiliar with the concept of “banging” chalk erasers, and didn’t catch the explanation in the previous post (Part 1), and therefore don’t understand why this is funny (at least I think it is!), I included the endnote again below. See Endnote #1 below.[1]

The first documents directly related to school attendance (Report Cards, school photos, etc) come to us from Ella and Elmer Drum. Elmer, born in 1895, graduated from the Butler Township High School in 1911, after having, it would seem, completed the full 10 years. Ella, born in 1897, started her schooling two or three years after Elmer, completing at least the eight primary years in 1913. We will have a look at Elmer’s and Ella’s “evidence” later in this post. However, for any of “us” who came before them - Nathan, John, Philip, George, Jacob, or Philip, and their wives and children - we are just making EDUCATED guesses (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

As we saw in the previous post, Three R’s Part 1, “formal” education offered by “the state” came to Drums somewhere in the early 1830’s so Drum Tree members seeking schooling before 1830, most likely got it from their parents, neighbors or through schools run by their church.

Philip’s son, John, who was born in 1826 (so was six years old in 1832), would probably be the first in the line of Drums covered by Drums of Drums, PA (Philip, Jacob, George, Philip, John, Nathan, Elmer, Harry, Ronald, Philip) to attend school via a Township School system. He probably joined a number of his older cousins already attending classes in one of the one-room schoolhouses the Drums Lions Club[2] says were built by Butler Township between 1830 and 1870. If so, he would have been followed in the same school system, probably in the Drums school, by his son, Nathan, and we know the same is true for Nathan’s son, Elmer, and Harry after him.

The first actual evidence (non-school generated) that we have to help us know that the Drums took advantage of the educational opportunities presented to them by their local towns and beyond, comes from a newspaper tribute to George W. Drum^{(George, George, Jacob, Philip)} published in the Valley Vigilant at the time of his death in 1913. He was born in Sugarloaf in 1832 and would therefore have reached age 6 in 1838. The article reports, “Our subject, who was reared in Sugarloaf Township and educated in the public schools and Wyoming Seminary[3]…”.[4] As was seen in the post Somebody’s Got to do it (The Jobs We Did), he went on to serve in the PA Legislature and as a Justice of the Peace. His son, George Frank Drum, known as G. Frank Drum, became a doctor and two of his daughter’s, Dora and Susan, each married a doctor. Now there was the crowd to know if you ever got sick!

Nathan S. Drum’s son, Philip Leo Drum^{(Nathan, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip)}, also attended the Wyoming Seminary. According to the Pennsylvania State Legislature’s website, he was educated as follows:

born in Drums, Luzerne County, Pa., January 31, 1871; attended, Wyoming Seminary, Pa.; graduated, Bloomsburg Literary Institute and Normal School (now Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania), 1893; attended, Lafayette College, 1897; LL.B.[5], University of Pennsylvania School of Law, 1900; teacher, Upper Lehigh school district (2 years); teacher, Carlisle Indian School (1894); teacher, Bloomsburg State Normal School (1895-1896)…. (the rest is about his employment).

Philip Leo’s sister, Nora A. Drum (1876-1954), must have also attended Wyoming Seminary or, perhaps Butler Township schools, or both, because she went on to earn a Teaching Degree from Bloomsburg State Normal School (later known as Bloomsburg State Teachers College and now, Bloomsburg University). At some point after receiving her teaching degree, she became a teacher in the Butler Township Schools. Unfortunately, I have not located information yet that provides any more specific details about these circumstances.[6]^, [7]

Philip Leo’s daughter, Elizabeth Drum, also sought higher education after her primary education was complete. In 1927, when Helman published the Drum Genealogy, she listed Elizabeth as a student at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.[8]

In my library, I have two books that I believe serve as the next “evidence” we have that us Drums done got ourselves an education. At least, I think they both do. One of them came to us via Ella Santee Drum’s uncle, Jacob Santee. In 1887 he bought Guyot's Geography Series: The Earth and its Inhabitants. Common-School Geography[9] for $0.25. A photo of his account book in which he lists this purchase along with a few of his other purchases that year, is included in the Post The Drums and their times, Part 2: 1870’s – 1970’s.

Jacob, or Uncle Jake as my Grandmother called him, was born September 25, 1855. By 1887, he’d have been 32, so, certainly not still a school-boy; which makes this purchase a bit of a mystery. But wait! The plot thickens! 

On both the inside cover and on the top of the first page, Jacob (or someone) has written “Wilkes-Barre, June 12, 1887”. The first page also includes, in very tiny letters, “Jacob Santee” written below the date. One assumes he went to Wilkes-Barre to purchase this book, but it is interesting that he wrote the location of the purchase, and not his home location, in the book, if that is the case. As far as we know, he did not ever live in Wilkes-Barre. Census data does not exist for 1890, however, he is listed as living in Butler Township in both the 1880 and 1900 censuses. I even considered that perhaps he’d enrolled at the Wyoming Seminary during that period, but at 32? By the way, just to round out this discussion of confusion around this book, the entry for the book in his Account Book is dated June 13, 1887, not June 12. Who can account for “such goings ons”, as my Grammy Drum would have said, shaking her head.

All of which brings us then to the second of the two books I mentioned; this one entitled, A Complete Course in Geography: Physical, Industrial, and Political. With A Special Geography for each State.[10] It was written by William Swinton and published in 1879. It most likely was purchased by Christian Schoesche (or came as a gift to him) probably around 1880. Written in beautiful script on the cover page is: “Master Christian Schoesche’s book, Center Hills, Luzerne County, Penna.” Written above that, in more school-like cursive, is “Jennie Santee”. Jennie was Christian’s niece. See the post “Books, Books, Books” for a little more information on this book.

Christian was born in 1865. He turned 15 in 1880. I assume he used the book first and then passed it to Jennie for her school needs. She was born in 1884. Her sister, Ella, married Elmer Drum in 1919. Somebody, I’m guessing Jennie, used the Title Page for practicing forming letters.

As for the mention of “Center Hills, Luzerne County” (it could be "Hill"), I have no information on what, or where, Center Hills or Hill is or was in Luzerne County. There is a road approximately a mile east of Conyngham called Center Hill which might, however, be a clue.

The first actual evidence generated by a school system that we Drums done gone to school (report cards, school photos, etc.) come to us, as was mentioned above, from Ella and Elmer Drum’s school years in the early 1900’s.

Up first is a “Certificate of Attainment” presented to Elmer in April of 1910. I do not know if one of these was given to every student every year but he sure got one that year. He got a better one the next year. This Attainment thing is only 5” x 7” so just a baby compared to his Diploma. He received that in 1911. Here it is, in all of its full 9 ½” x 17 ½” glory!!  The ribbons on it look like they are gold and black. However, the school colors were “Lemon and Maroon”. I guess some colors don’t hold up so well over time.  

 

He got his picture taken with his class as well. There he is in the back row, right behind Mr. Herbert Wenner, the Principal. To the left of Elmer are Myrtle and Sara Cook. Elsie Smith is to the right of Elmer. In the middle row are Viola Heintz (Berner), Wenner, and May Brighthaupt. Down front we see Willie Dinklocker, Hazle Klinger (Werner), and Ronald Smith. I listed them here exactly as Mom has them listed in the scrapbook so I am unsure what the names in the parentheses are (maiden or married).

Not to be shown up, Christie, Elmer’s sister, held her own in school, as well. Here is her school photo from 1912. I think, given the wide variation in ages seen in the photo, that this is the whole crowd, not just her class. Someone hung an arrow over her head so it is easy to find her: (L-R) second in, in the back row. 

Now, Elmer’s future wife, Ella, was the same age as Christie. One would assume Ella must be in this same photo. Alas, she is not. We know who most of the people are in this photo. Of the one’s not identified, probably by Ella for my mom in the early 1970’s, most are boys and the few unidentified girls are too young. Besides, if she was in the photo, one would have thought she’d have identified herself!  Mr. Wenner, by the way, is standing on the left in the doorway. 

Christie, age 15, graduated April 25, 1912. Here are her Commencement documents for finishing Primary School (8^th grade). The next level was “High School”. The ceremony was held at 8 o’clock at the Drums Methodist Church. According to the Commencement Program, Christie gave an “oration” entitled “The Home and the School.” I don’t know what she said but I bet she was nervous.

It’s not that we don’t have a class photo of Ella, we do. Well, sort of. Here it is. It was taken about 1910 or 1911: 

As can be seen by the “inscription” on the photo (thanks, Mom), Ella was out sick the day of the photo. Of course, these were the days of the one-room schoolhouse, thus why the ages are so varied in these photos. In fact, Ella and Christie did not attend school in the same building. Christie went to school in the Drums school and Ella’s school building was the one known as Jacobs School which was the closest to our present home, Drumyngham (see the 1873 map of the schools in the post “…Three R’s, Part 1”). This was confirmed for me by Lifelong Drums resident, Robert “Bob” Reed[11]. That’s his father at about age nine, standing in the front row, sixth in from the left. The teacher’s name was Bessie Fagan.

From the records saved by the Santee and Drum families that are in “my” collection, I do not know if Christie attended 9^th grade or ever graduated from High School. Ella Santee, who was the same age as Christie, was promoted into “High School First Year”, but this occurred one calendar year later than Christie’s Commencement. The next photo is of Ella’s “Monthly Report” (Report Card) for the 1912-1913 (8^th Grade) school year. I didn’t include all the pages, but I did include the last page, the one that says she was promoted. I do not, however, know if she attended any classes past the 8^th grade.

The following offers a better view of the Promotion Page. I do not know what “on conditions” means and I do not know why Ella has reached this level of school a year later than Christie.  I assume it is because she probably started school one year later than Christie.

Just to show that we Drums appreciated education, I’ll offer yet another tidbit of evidence. Warren Nevin Drum^{(AA, Josiah, Abraham, George, Jacob, Philip)}, born 1885 and died 1928[12], must have had a worthy education. He once served as the Principal of the Indiana State Normal School (known as Indiana University since 1965). The school was founded in 1875 but no word on just when Warren took up the reins of Principal. I assume that he was serving in this role when he died. Helman includes him in her 1927 genealogy as “Warren Drum, Principal of Indiana State Normal School” (present tense).[13]

Now we jump to the next generation: the children of Elmer and Ella Drum, and Elmer’s sister and brother-in-law, Christie and Paul Yoch. The following is a photo of a page in one of my mom’s scrapbooks. The upper left photo on the page is identified by Mom as my dad, Harry in the second grade (age 7). I don’t think this photo resembles my dad but one should never argue with one’s parents so I guess that is who the picture is of. The next two photos are Christie’s sons, Gordon and Marvin. They DO resemble the older Gordon and Marvin that I knew. The next two photos that are glued on the page to the right of Marvin’s photo are both photos of Harry’s sister, Clara; one at age 7 (1932) and one at age 8 (1933).

The two large photos in the middle of the page are 8-year-old Clara again and 10-year-old Harry, both taken in 1933.

The group of four photos near the bottom of the page include, top left, 10-year-old Harry again. To his right is Clara at 9 years of age. Below her is Clara at age 12 (1937). To her left, below Harry, is a photo identified by Mom as Anna Kemp. Anna Kemp was the much beloved First, Second and Third Grades Teacher.

The larger photo to the right of this group of four in the photo above is of the Drums School Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade students of 1935. The teacher is standing in front of the door. Gilbert “Gil” Bittenbender[14], a classmate of Clara’s, identified the teacher as being either Gertrude Wilson or Katherine Wenner (he couldn’t remember which).

Here is a closer view. Ten-year-old Clara Drum is in the back row, 2^nd in from the left. I’m surprised that no one hung an arrow over her head, nor did Mom include a list of who else appears in this photo. However, Gil, who clearly remembered Clara, “thought” he recognized himself in the photo as well. “I think that’s me” he said with a bit of nostalgic wonder in his voice. “Which one, Gil?” I asked. He pointed to the 7^th boy in from the left and said, as he laughed, “That tall, skinny one! I think that’s me. I was a tall, skinny kid!” I have to admit it, I think that is Gil, too. 

That brings us to the fateful year of 1936 when, for reasons never fully explained to me, my dad left school in the middle of the seventh grade. More details about Harry and his school years are included in the post “Some of us never went to war”.

To the right are Harry’s Report Cards. He is missing the 6^th Grade Report Card, possibly because he may have been home schooled that year, having been diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever and removed from school part way through the previous, 5^th Grade, year.

Although he left school part-way through the 7^th Grade, he was present when the class photo was made. Here are the Drums School 7^th Grade students of 1936.  Dad is standing in the second row, first one on the left. Once again, someone has placed an arrow beside him to help us locate him in the crowd. Once again, Mom failed to include a list of who the others were in the photo. The teacher sitting in the front row, however, is Mr. Opiary.

Although Harry left school at Grade 7, Clara graduated from Hazleton High School in 1943. Here is the page of Seniors from the 1943 Hazleton High School Janus (yearbook) that includes her photo, second row, far right. It identifies her as having been an active member of the Swimming Club and noted that “her friends ran into large numbers”. I guess she was nice, even then! See the post “Nice” for more nice Drums! 

The next in line would be me and my illustrious career as a student, and that of my brother’s. Since I don’t have all of his details I best leave him out of it and rather than forcing MY career as a student on my readers, how about I leave you with my Mom’s last full year of school, instead.

Eleanor Esther Shearer, age 16, 10^th Grade, 1943.

When I was in school, I often told my mom that school made me sick. So, how about we next turn to what we know about the illnesses we Drums suffered through and what we did to alleviate the suffering! Return to Drums of Drums, PA on May 12 for #41: Getting Well, Part 1: They got a tea for that!

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[1] One will probably only understand why this statement might be funny if you experienced classrooms with chalk, or black, boards. Black slate was affixed to classroom walls. This provided a smooth, dark surface upon which teachers could write letters and numbers using white, or sometimes yellow, chalk. To remove what was written, one swiped a felt “eraser’ over the board, which wiped the chalk away. Eventually, the chalk dust would build up on the erasers making them less effective. The remedy for that was to “clap” or “bang” them together; outside the building, of course; thus jarring the chalk particles loose from the felt; the wind carrying the resulting great clouds of chalk dust away; that which did not end up covering the child doing the “clapping”, of course. I imagine most kids, at least I know this was true for me, relished the assignment of cleaning the chalk erasers at the end of the school day. Such fun will never be known in classrooms filled with smart boards and iPads and computer screens.

[2] Two Hundred Years of Progress: Butler Township, 1784-1984 (Drums, PA: The Drums Lions Club, 1984) p 17-18

[3] For more information on the Wyoming Seminary, visit their website at: https://www.wyomingseminary.org/ and/or the Wikipedia page for the Wyoming Seminary at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Seminary.

[4] “Conyngham’s Grand Old Man Dead, Honorable George W. Drum is no more – was the town’s oldest native citizen” Valley Vigilant, November 14, 1913. P 23

[5] So, what the heck is a “LL.B.” degree? Well, according to “Ask Adele”, LL.B. “is the abbreviation for the Bachelor of Laws. The degree abbreviates to ‘LLB’ instead of ‘BL’ due to the traditional name of the qualification in Latin, ‘Legum Baccalaureus’. ‘Legum’ is the plural of 'lex', meaning law, while ‘Baccalaureus’ is the origin of the term 'Bachelors degree'. As Latin plurals often abbreviate by doubling the first letter (e.g. 'pp' for 'pages'), it abbreviates to 'LLB'.” So now we know.

[6] Drum, Nora, Miss; Mrs. R. S. Small, and Mrs. Millard Shelhamer, Drums Methodist Church and Valley Notes (Drums, PA: St. Paul’s Methodist Church, 1953)

[7] Helman, Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown, PA: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927) p 13

[8] Helman, Laura M., p 13

[9] Guyot, A., Guyot's Geography Series: The Earth and its Inhabitants. Common-School Geography (NY: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1873)

[10] Swinton, William, A Complete Course in Geography: Physical, Industrial, and Political. With A Special Geography for each State (NY and Chicago: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, and Co., 1879)

[11] Reed, Robert, Interview took place at the Butler Township Active Adult Center, January 16, 2020.

[12] Findagrave.com

[13] Helman, Laura M., p 26

[14] Bittenbender, Gilbert, Interview took place at the Butler Township Active Adult Center, January 13, 14, & 16, 2020. Gilbert was born in June, 1926 and attended school in the Drums school from fall of 1932 to spring 1944 when he graduated. If he is correct that the boy in the photo is himself, he would be nine years old in the photo.