#barringtonny

By Jonathan Monfiletto

At one point in history, according to a review of the table of contents of “Memories of the Rural Schools of Yates County, New York” by Jennie L. Hiler, the nine townships that make up Yates County boasted a combined 105 rural schoolhouses, prior to – and even alongside of – the time of central school districts. So, when it comes to writing an 800- to 1,000-word article for a blog post about the rural schools of the county, how does one narrow down the focus in order to tell a good story?

Well, for this article, I am choosing to focus on Barrington District No. 10 – known as the MacDowell District – and Jerusalem District No. 1 – known as the Willett District – because of a couple of recent inquiries we received in the research room regarding information on these two schoolhouses. I referenced one of these inquiries while writing about the existence of the non-existent John Doe Collection of Photographs of Old and Notable Homes of Yates County in a recent post.

In fact, our subject files on Barrington No. 10 include an article from the August 26, 2015 edition of The Chronicle-Express profiling the man who asked us about the John Doe Collection and has been working to restore the schoolhouse. Geoffrey Ballard, at least at the time, is a physical education and health teacher at University Preparatory School in Rochester. A 1999 Dundee Central School graduate, Ballard first had the idea to repair the schoolhouse at the corner of Bath and Bellis Hill roads that summer; his grandmother, Louise Ballard, was among the generations of children who attended the school, and the Ballard family has owned the property on which the schoolhouse – built in 1854 – stands for many years. He planned to begin his project by repainting or replacing the wooden clapboard siding. Later plans included replacing the windows with more authentic-looking ones and renovating the interior as well.

According to a handwritten essay – with no title and no author listed – in our subject files, Barrington No. 10 was formed November 21, 1853 and located on the northwest corner of George Castner’s land on the west side of Bath Road. A chairman, four trustees, and a librarian were chosen for the school, and Castner was paid $15 for the land to be held by the district as long as it was used for a school. A total of $300 was raised to construct the schoolhouse – $268 for the building and $32 for outhouses – along with $16 to buy a stove and pipe, $88 for wood, and $8 for paint and stain. The schoolhouse was open for religious meetings, lectures, debating societies, “or other moral or useful purposes” when not in use for school. In October 1854, a teacher was hired.

A typewritten essay titled “Memoir of Pop and Mom’s Life,” written – according to a handwritten note – on behalf of Anna Louisa Slocum Ballard and Thomas Ray Ballard (Geoffrey Ballard’s grandparents) includes some details about Barrington No. 10. Mrs. Ballard walked to school from her parents’ house and attended school in Barrington from age 5/first grade to age 12/seventh grade, when she and some friends decided they wanted to go to school in Dundee. Her teacher in Barrington was Blanche Hayes, and there were about 15 children in the school at that time. On a tangential but related note, an item on the October 31, 2007 Pages Past feature in The Chronicle-Express mentions that on November 3, 1932 it was reported that Miss Hayes recorded 100 percent attendance at the schoolhouse throughout that October.

Another typewritten essay is titled “Reminiscing with Ralph” (with “Hallenbeck” added to the title in handwriting); the Ballards’ essay mentions Hallenbeck as a classmate who decided to move on to Dundee, and likewise Halleneck mentions Louise Slocum among the classmates who would walk to school together. On the last day of school, according to Hallenbeck, Arthur Bellis would transport the children from Barrington No. 10 in his milk truck to Red Jacket Park for a picnic and field day with children from the other schools in the town. Hallenback said he completed eight grades at Barrington before transferring to Dundee.

Both Ralph Hallenbeck and Louise Slocum are identified in a photograph in Hiler’s book of students attending Barrington No. 10 during the 1931-1932 school year.

Unlike Barrington No. 10 – which is being restored and renovated – Jerusalem No. 1 is no longer standing; it had been located on the corner of Williams Hill and County House Woods roads. According to a handwritten essay by Anna C. Gelder in our subject files (there is also a typewritten version in our subject files), the original Jerusalem No. 1 was a log structure sitting near the woods on land owned by Samuel Cornell. Though the year this structure was built is unknown, it was moved in 1842 and rebuilt on the aforementioned intersection. In 1900, the building was repaired and repainted. Although Gelder’s essay is undated, she states there were only two people at the time – Mr. Jackson Brown and Mrs. Anna Willett – still alive who remember going to school in the old log schoolhouse.

Unfortunately, this is the extent of the information we have on Jerusalem No. 1 in our subject files. An inquiry into this schoolhouse came our way through Facebook from a woman who indicated her grandmother, Elizabeth Tindall, attended school there before moving on to Penn Yan Academy. The woman even sent us a modern-day photo of the schoolhouse from when her grandmother took her to see it before it was torn down. A series of typewritten pages in our subject files details the history of early Jerusalem schools as pulled from Stafford C. Cleveland’s 1873 “History and Directory of Yates County.” Some of the entries mention log schoolhouses, but it is unclear which of these – or whether any of these – refer to Jerusalem No. 1.

We welcome feedback from anyone who has more information on – or knows anyone who attended – these schools or any of the rural schools in the county.

By Jonathan Monfiletto

No, the Yates County History Center does not have a collection titled “The John Doe Collection of Photographs of Old and Notable Homes of Yates County.” However, we certainly do have photographs of – and information about – old and notable homes, and other structures and establishments, in the county.

I want to clear up any confusion the Penn Yan Democrat may have caused with its September 25, 1931 edition, which listed some of the items recently acquired by the historical society for its collections. More than 90 years later, a man who is renovating and restoring Barrington School No. 10 saw this newspaper item and contacted the History Center about the John Doe collection. He is looking for photographs or other information about the schoolhouse but expressed particular interest in the John Doe collection.

The man actually sent a Facebook message initially, and at first we thought he was some kind of troll playing a silly trick or making a snide remark. When he followed up with a phone call, we learned a) he is a real person and b) we might actually have such a collection. He gave me the precise date and edition of the newspaper article, as he had been perusing the NYS Historic Newspapers website for information, so I looked up the item in our digitized newspaper collection.

And then I had to break the sad news to this poor guy. There is no such thing as the John Doe Collection of Photographs of Old and Notable Homes of Yates County. Although, as I said, we certainly do have plenty of photographs and information related to historic people and places in the county.

See, the Democrat on that date carried a listing of some of the items recently donated to the historical society's collections. Apparently, that used to be a thing back in the day. Along with the personals section telling readers where their neighbors went on vacation and who they had dinner with and when they were sick.

Mrs. J.H. Rose donated two photos of the Chestnuts, Yates County's great Greek Revival stone mansion on the west branch of Keuka Lake. Rather than just listing Mrs. Rose's donation and leaving it at that, the newspaper wanted to “call particular attention to the gift of the photographs” as it could “form the nucleus of what is hoped may become a large collection of early Yates County homes.”

Local landmarks such as the Chesnuts exist in every town in the county, the newspaper noted, such as the Wagener House on Bluff Point, the Public Universal Friend's house, the Potter House, Teeple's Tavern in Barrington, and a few log cabin homes of the early pioneers. “Pictures of these should be preserved,” the newspaper rightfully stated. “A picture of a house as it was originally is generally to be preferred to one taken later, after 'al modern improvements' have been added.”

The newspaper's idea – and the idea of the newspaper alone – was for people to submit 8x10 or 8x12 photos or even smaller photos with good enlargements to the historical society as gifts. Of course, the historical society would need money to purchase a display case, to make enlargements, and to take special photos. And therein lies an opportunity for someone to donate some money to the historical society for this project and, as a result, have the collection of photos named after them.

“...there is an opportunity for some interested friend of the Society to identify his name permanently with its work by establishing 'The John Doe Collection of Photographs of Old and Notable Homes of Yates County,” the newspaper declared.

Certainly, by using the name John Doe – typically used as an alias for an unidentified person – the newspaper implied the collection would be named after whoever put up the money for it. I've never met anyone named John Doe, though I'm sure there is someone out there with that name. But I'm also certain the History Center has no such collection named after such a person.