Yonge Mills – a One Room School House in Elizabethtown
Yonge Mills School
School Section #28 Elizbethtown
School Section # 2 & 3 Front of Yonge
The Yonge Mills School house is located on the Yonge Mills Road, approximately 3 ½ miles west of the village of Lyn. On September 26th 1874 a ¾ acre lot was severed from the land owned by Mr. Griffin and Mr. Phillips and transferred to the Trustees of the Public School Section. The school opened in 1874 and was in use until its closure in 1968. The school was built from stone and similar to others built around the same time period.
In 1954/55 a wall was erected across the room so that the lower level students could be taught by a second teacher. In 1960 a well was dug and a furnace room added. Prior to 1960 the school was without running water and each day a student had to carry a bucket of water from Gardiner’s across the road to the school. The lavatory was divided with the teacher’s in the centre and two on either side for the boys and girls.
The first school in Yonge Mills was a wooden structure located on the corner of Devil’s Door Road and County Road 27, opposite Yonge Mills Church. The second school was a brick structure which held classes from 1859 to 1874. The third school was a stone structure built in 1874 and was open until June 1968.
In 1956 the enrollment of the school was over 50 pupils.
This was a split school between Elizabethtown and Front of Yonge, students from both townships attended and costs were shared.
The school has been turned into a home and is located at 65 Yonge Mills Rd.
(A brief history of Yonge Mills School by Joe Moore 1997)
School Superintendents Report (Ontario Archives)
Shows the following information, which in some cases contradicts what we have already researched, and contradicts other filed School Superintendents Reports:
1850: No Report
1854: No Report
The following information was extracted from the motion papers of the Elizabethtown Council 1855-1873:
that $36 dollars of Clergy money be divided amongst the School Sections of this Township in the following manner, namely Sections No 1 $10, No 12 $5, No 26 $9, No 27 $9.31 cents, No 28 $5, No 29 $2, No 30 $5, No 31 $6 bring union section all the full Sections will leave the sum of $13.11 cents each and the Clerk ? the sum to be paid to the Trustees of each School Section (Lyn Museum Archives)
List of Teachers at Yonge Mills School
1894-96 Alice Tennant
1897-04 J.Page
1904 W.Knox
1905-06 U.McNish
1908 L.Robertson
1909 J.Hamilton
1910 M.Carpenter
1911 D.Jones
11911-12 H.H.Sheldon
1912-15 G.Kelly
1914 Mary Bissell (Jan to June)
1914 Helen Sigsworth (Sep to Oct)
1914 Rosa Breese (Oct to Dec)
1915-16 Edythe A. Glazier
1917 M.Evelyn Purvis
1918 Mary Hutchinson (Jan to June)
1918-20 E.L.Sturgeon
1920-21 Vear B.Armstrong
1921-22 Edna I.Pettem
1922 Kathleen I. Bushfield
1923-25 Mary E.Gardiner
1926-28 Taylor K.Franklin
1928 M.E.Gardiner
1928-32 M.M.Marshall
1932 L.E.Booth
1935-39 M.R.Purvis
1940-41 M.R. Brown
1942 M.Avery
1942-43 F.Chapman
1943-44 Rita Howe
1944 Helen Steacy
1945-46 M.Stanier
1946-49 J.Ferguson
1956-58 Marion Tedford
1958-60 D.McGill
1960-61 S.King
1961-63 Kay Dickey
1963-68 H.Steacy
1964-66 C.Running
1967-68 Marjory Warren
The following information was taken from attendance records for the period 1914 to 1928. From 1915 onwards only new students were noted.
1914
| Wilma Shipman | Jim McNish | Jenny Ferguson |
| Ethal Weston | Norton Eyre | Ronald Herring |
| Hubert Scott | Ernest Kilmurray | Euart Clow |
| Frank Ferguson | Eva Shipman | George Hollingsworth |
| Katie Bolin | Lottie Mallory | Leland Bolin |
| Ann Munro | George McNish | Jennie Ferguson |
| Marguerite Tennant | Nora Dickey | Willie Avery |
| Cecile Tennant | Lizzie McCoy | Lucy McAvoy |
| Anna Bell Bolin | Cecil Dickey | Helen Kilmurray |
| Fred Vickerey | Fern Munro | Violet Hollingsworth |
| Leita McAvoy | Arthur Weston | Fred Hollingsworth |
| Willie Clow |
1915 Teacher Edythe A. Glazier. New Students:
| Ethel Jarvis | Annia Andress | Hilliard Andress |
| Cassie Andress | Lila McAvoy | Mary Andress |
| Belina Queen |
1916 Teacher Edythe A. Glazier, New Students:
| Blanch Eyre | Lulu Pavey | Louise Kilmurray |
| Howard Latham |
1917 Teacher M. Evelyn Purvis, New Students
| Harry Cook | William Cook | Maizie Latham |
1918 Teacher Mary Hutchinson, E.L. Sturgeon, New Students:
| Thomas Mills | Lillie Mills | Oran Marshall |
| Beulah Kilmurray |
1919 Teacher E.L. Sturgeon, New Students
| Constance McEwen |
1920 Teachers E.L.Sturgeon and Vera B. Armstrong, New Students
| Ford Bryan | Ethel Bryan | Stewart Flood |
| Omar Bramley | Beatrice Flood | Irene Boulton |
| Mable Edgely |
1921 Teachers Vera B. Armstrong and Edna I. Pettem, New Students
| Albert Boulton | Francis Neddow | Ethel Neddow |
| Christina Craig | George Harris | David Craig |
| Albert Boulton | Boyd teacy | Idelle Cochrane |
| Hugh Eaton | Alice Neddow | Mary Craig |
1922 Teachers Edna Pettem and Kathleen I. Bushfield, New Students
| Albert Woodward | Gordon Haws | Ethel Haws |
| Francis Neddo | Ethel Neddow | Alice Cain |
| Mary Cain | Leslie Eaton | Alice McNish |
| Lora McNish | Jennie Bryan | Willie Cain |
1923 Teacher Mary E. Gardiner, New Students:
| William Miller | Omar Clow | Alzina Cain |
| Nelson Cain | Lawrence Nixon | Donald Gardiner |
| Doris McNish | Thelma Eaton | Hubert Leeder |
| Cora Neddow |
1925 Teacher Mary E. Gardiner, New Students
| Arthur Purvis | Leslie Neddo | Phillip McNish |
| Earl Flood | Elanor Shipman | Lawrence Neddo |
| Isabel Watson | Janet Watson |
1926 Teacher Mary E. Gardiner and Taylor K. Franklin New Students
| Bobby Nixon | Marjorie Cochrane | Bobby Heaslip |
| Margaret McNish | Donald Heaslip | Stanley Bryan |
| Arthur McDonald |
1927 Teacher Taylor K. Franklin, New Students
| Harriet Purvis | Gertrude Dolan | Billie Andress |
| Barnett McNish | Katherine Purvis | Gladys McKay |
| Sarah Dolan |
1928 Teachers Taylor K. Franklin, M.E. Gardiner, M.M. Marshall New Students
| Emily Poole | Miller Poole | Irene Poole |
| Alfred Poole | Kenneth Heaslip | James Purvis |
The school was closed on a number of occasions and a brief note of explanation was made in the attendance records. Some of those notes are succinct comments on the way of life in the early years.
From time to time the teacher was sick and so the school was closed until she/he recovered. On one occasion it was for two weeks. Once a year the teacher attended a one day teacher’s conference, usually held in Brockville.
Other closures over the early years:
1918 Nov 11th – Peace Declared
1920 Feb 18th – School closed due to a storm
1920 Jun 8th – School closed due to sickness
1921 Feb 10th – Closed for Mr. Robert Eyre’s funeral
1921 Mar 1st – School closed for measles
1921 Jun 16th -School closed to pick strawberries
1922 Feb 10th – Closed, Mr. Noris Gardiner died
1922 Sep 8th – School Fair
1925 Jan 14th to 23rd – School closed because of measles
1925 Oct 15th – International Plowing Match
1927 Mar 1st – Closed to fumigate school for Scarlet Fever
1928 Mar 12th & 13th – Death and Funeral of Mrs. N.I.Gardiner
1936 Jan 28th – Kings Funeral
1937 May 12th – Coronation Day
(Thanks to Joe Moore of Brockville for the majority of this information, written in 1997
If anyone has any additional photos or information on this school wwe would appreciate hearing from you.
August 6, 2016 @ 9:38 pm
I am tracing my “Roots” My Mother and her siblings went to this school. Do you have records of the students and other class photos. ? My Mother is Macy Eva Shipman (1902-1987)
. Sisters Edna Marie (1898-1967) and Wilma Beatrice (1899-1991) and brother Walte Ellis (1895-1974).
They are the children of Macy Elizabeth Johnson and Joel Arthur Shipman – Twin Elms Farm
February 25, 2019 @ 3:46 pm
Photo #1 with Roy Gibson in the lower left corner I believe was actually taken sometime between 1894 and 1896. Alice Tennant was only teaching at that time. my grandfather Roy Gibson was born in 1884 and would have been about 10 or 11 at the time of the photo
February 27, 2019 @ 8:24 am
Thanks for this information we updated the photo