From: <pamtessier(a)sympatico.ca>
Source: CAN-ONT-SIMCOE-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: School Report 1862
While going through our files we found two reports that may be of
historical interest to you.
They are the Annual Reports of the Local Superintendent of Common
Schools for the Townships of Tiny and Tay, Simcoe County, to the
Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada for the years 1862 and 1866.
They are incredibly detailed and give a picture of the teachers,
subjects taught, students and money matters. They can be found in
the Provincial Archives, Ref: RG 2 8-3-B 1862 and RG 2 F-3-13 1866.
1862
There were 7 schools in the district, covering Tiny and Tay and one
school which covered parts of Tiny, Tay, Flos and Medonte. This
particular school was located in Waverly. The others were located in
La Fontaine (sic), 2 in Wye Bridge (sic) and 3 in Penetanguishene.
Four schools opened the day with prayer, 3 did not, including 2 of
the Penetang schools and the one in Lafontaine. The bible was used
at only one school - Waverly. One school in Penetang and the the
Lafontaine school were the only ones with male teachers of the RC
faith. Mary Anne Clarke was the lone female teacher in Waverly and
she was C of E. The other four had male C of E teachers.
French books were used at Lafontaine.
None of the teachers had a Provincial Certificate but all had second
or third class County Board certificates.
Of all the schools, only the Wyebridge school was made of frame, all
the rest were log cabins. Values of the real estate, school and
site, ranged from $50 to $220. One new school in Penetang was built in 1862.
Three schools had maps of Canada, the world and the continents. The
rest had no maps at all. All had blackboards. One school in Penetang
actually had 200 volumes in the Sunday School library and that was
the only library in any of the schools.
Teacher, School, Salary (without board), total pupils, males, females:
William Baxter, Penetanguishene, $300, 89, 48, 41
Magloire Pilon, Lafontaine, $320, 93, 57, 36
Thomas McGrath, Wye Bridge, $220, 39, 19, 20
Mary Anne Clarke, Waverly, $200, 15, 6, 9
R.I. Cattley, Wye Bridge, $210, 46, 21, 25
William Iuppe, Penetanguishene, $174.55, 36, 19, 17
John Irving, Penetanguishene, $160, 68, 41, 27
Most schools were open 12 months of the year except Waverly which
was open for 10 months. Wye Bridge and one Penetang school were open
11 months of the year.
Population of of the Municipality, Children Between 5 and 16,
Children Registered for School ages 5-16, Boys, Girls
Penetang - 460, 168, 89, 48, 41
Lafontaine - 400, 142, 93, 57, 36
Wye Bridge - 250, 67, 39, 19, 20
Waverly - 30, 20, 15, 6, 9
Wye Bridge - 205, 67, 46, 21, 25
Penetang - 149, 43, 36, 19, 17
Penetang - 173, 90, 68, 41, 27
There were also three children "of other ages" registered. Of the
registered children, more did NOT attend school than did and there
were only 16 who attended all year.
Subjects: the female Waverly teacher taught 5 students needlework.
Arithmetic, grammar, general geography, Canadian geography (20
students), writing were the subjects taught. The Lafontaine school
had students reciting prose or poetry.
Year school opened:
Penetanguishene (Baxter) 1848
La Fontaine (Pilon) 1849
Wye Bridge (McGrath) 1845
Waverly (Clarke) 1845
Wye Bridge (Cattley) 1857
Penetang (Iuppe) 1859
Penetang (Irving) 1862
The Local Superintendent of Schools received a salary of $4.00 per
annum per school.
Amounts received from all sources, including county and local
assessments, government grants:
Penetang $201.59, La Fontaine $360.65, Wye Bridge $267.87, Waverly
$11.23, Wye Bridge $168.34, Penetang $146.15, Penetang $288.22.
Reasons for absences were included in a separate report which we do not have.
Pam Tessier
Research Co-ordinator
Genealogy and History Research Centre
Penetanguishene Centennial Museum and Archives
13 Burke street
Penetanguishene, ON
L9M 1C1
705-5492150
www.pencenmuseum.com
ptessier(a)pencenmuseum.com
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