Dunwich school Attendance 1904

ATTENDANCE RECORD OF SCHOOL SECTION #1, DUNWICH TOWNSHIP

ELGIN COUNTY FOR 1904

Extracted and compiled by Robert G. Moore

The following list of pupils has been taken from the original “Public School DAILY REGISTER for recording the attendance of Pupils ” in School Section Number One in the

Township of Dunwich. School Section Number One, known as the Port Talbot section and was located on one

half acre of land in the westerly part of the north west quarter of Lot 17 Concession 11. The land was purchased in May 1853 from George McBeth for two pounds and 10 shillings. School sections were set up so that most pupils would not be more than about 2 to 2 1/2 miles from the school. Even that distance would be too far for the little ones to walk thus there was usually a rule that a pupil had be to six years of age before starting school in the fall. (many pupils were often nearly eight before starting school) As Section Number One was a rural community, many of the older children only attended school when they were not required for farm work (planting time in the spring and harvest time in the fall). Although there were eight “grades” in the school, usually two or more grades were would be grouped together as one teacher could only handle so many different lessons in a one room school in a day. Many pupils condensed the eight grades of public school into seven. The grade structure of many rural schools in Ontario which was very similar to Number One Dunwich, changed very little into the 1930s when I attended a rural school in Waterloo County.

Fortunately we have both the 1901 and 1911 census of Dunwich Township to compare the register with but the population of Elgin County continued its transitory nature. The Canadian west was opening up and lure of the big cities of the USA such as Detroit and Chicago was still a drawing card for those families that saw little future as local labourers and small acreage farm owners in Dunwich. Dutton station and the New York Central railway were only a few miles away from Section Number One and afforded easy access to the American west

.

Pupils Attending January to June 1904

Teacher Isabel E McIntyre

Pupils Age in March 1904 unless noted

First Grade

Braddon, George age 8 in June

Halpin, Annie age 7 in June started mid April

Jones, Maggie started June

McIntyre, Wilfred age 8 in June started mid April

Merithew, Alfie started second week of May, age 9 in June

Pettit, Willie age 7 went 4 days end of June

Piper, Archie age 8 in June started mid April

Piper, John age 8 went 4 days in June

Scram, David age 7 started second week in June

Scram, Stanton age 9 started second week in June

Tomlinson, Archie age 8 started second week in June

Tomlinson, Pauline age 6 started second week in June

Junior Second Grade

Lunn, Mabel age 9

Piper, Grace age 10 in June started last week of April

Senior Second Grade

Halpin, Edith age 9

Lilley, Charles age 10 started last week of March

Thompson, Florence age 10

Third Grade

Halpin, Andrew age 11

Lunn, Cessford age 11

Lunn, Arthur age 11

McIntyre, James age 13 in June absent Feb & March

Small, Malcolm age 11

Junior Fourth

Lunn, Archie age 11

Lynch, John age 14

Lynch, Thomas age 11

McClung, Otto age 13

Senior Fourth

Bobier, James age 15

Lunn, Johnnie age 13 left school 3rd week March

Thompson, Elsie age 13 in June

Fifth

Small, Clarence age 14 left School mid May

Attendance Pupil days Average Number of Pupils per day

January 260 13

February 242 11.5

March 284 12.3

April 247 (Easter holidays) 16.46

May 387 18.4

June 394 17.45

August to December 1904

Annie M. Geddes teacher

Fall School term started the third Week of August

Pupils listed in Five classes (youngest to oldest)

Lunn, Nellie attended 2 days in December

Pettit, Willie listed August to October but never attended

Scram, David attended for 10 days in September only

Scram, Stanton attended for 10 days in September only

Tomlinson, Archie attended August, September and first week in October only

Tomlinson, Pauline attended August, September and first week in October only

Braddon, George

Halpin, Annie

Jones, Maggie attended for one week in October only

McInytre, Wilfred

Merithew, Alfie

Piper, John attended for 14 days only

Docker, George started school first week of October

Lilley, Charles started fourth week of November and attended for December

Lunn, Mabel

Piper, Grace

Thompson, Florence

Lunn, Arthur

Lunn, Cessford

Halpin, Edith

McIntyre, James

Halpin, Andrew

Lunn, Archie

Lynch, John attended last week of November and December only

Lynch, Thomas attended last week of November and December only

McClung, Otto

Small, Malcolm

Thompson, Elsie

Attendance Pupil days Average Number of Pupils per day

August 246 19

September 393 19

October 324 16

November 364 17

December 280 17

Entire year 3420 pupil days with 31 different pupils

Highest attendance was Archie Lunn with 203 days, followed by Andrew Halpin with 200 days

and Edith Halpin with 196. At the other end of the scale was Willie Piper with 4 days, Maggie

Jones with 25 days and John Piper with 36 days