MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, THE TEACHER

My Great-grandfather, John Reverdy Keadle, was born in Stockport, Ohio, in 1854. Unfortunately not a lot of details exist detailing his young adult life but what we do know is that he attended Ohio Univeristy in the year the university went co-educational. As a result of some apparent family connections in Missouri, my great grandfather traveled to Missouri and taught school there for about three years. After which time he came back to Ohio and taught school in Hooksburg, located across the Muskingum river from Stockport, and is no more except for a cemetery.

It was this latter school that precipitated the occasion for this article. The assorted greetings and sayings that his “scholars” wrote in an autograph book are shown below. The dates of those sayings cover a period of several days in October, 1883. The photo above shows my great-grandfather at about 29 years of age, and to the best of our ability this is how he looked in his school teaching days. John R. Keadle did not teach for a long extended career but had what appears to be a three-fold profession of being a carpenter, a teacher and a store keeper.

As you read these gems from 127 years ago, keep in mind this was no doubt a one-room school which explains the variety of participation in this little autograph book shown above, from brief one-line entries to rather long greetings. Also, exactness of spelling (we have purposefully let spelling as the children wrote their verses) indicate various levels of learning. The penmanship, to those privileged to see the actual book, is amazing, and as noted obviously distinguishes beginners from older scholars. Take special note too, the name HOOK cropping up seven times–strange, it was the HOOKSBURG SCHOOL. ENJOY, APPRECIATE and WONDER at a true gem passed down through several generations. We have surmised this unique memento was given to teacher John R. Keadle upon his leaving Hooksburg School as their teacher in 1883. (He later became a store keeper in Zanesville, Ohio)
To My Teacher
Let not our frienship,
Like the roses, wither
But like the evergreen,
Last forever.
Eva Filkill
Dear teacher with pleasure
I drop for thee a line
So that you can at leisure
Remember that its mine.
Renna Newton
Compliments to my teacher
J. H. Brohaus
When far a way
And friends are few
Remember me as I do you.
J. D. Young
Dana H. Davis
Hooksburg, Ohio
To my teacher
When you turn these pages
And our affectionate testimonies appear to thee
In return for my best wishes
Think kindly too of me
Respectfully, Jennie Davis
To my teacher
By this I wish to be remembered.
Yours respectfully,
D. E. Filkil
To my teacher
May happiness ever be thy lot
Wherever thou shalt be
And joy and pleasure light the spot
That may be home to thee
Ella Spencer
To my teacher
Remember me if not a task
Remember me is all I ask
Ollie Fisher
To my teacher
Tis swell to be remembered
By those we trust are true
Please think of me sometime
And I’ll often think of you
Lillie Fisher
To my teacher
When distant lands divide us
And your face I cannot see
Remember it was Lizzie
Who penned these lines to thee
Lizzie Fisher
To my teacher
When on this page you chance to look
Just think of me and close the book
Eva Spencer
Remember me
When this you see
Minnie White
To my teacher
May thy life be long and happy
May thy enemies be few
May thy friends be just as many
As the drops of evening dew
Fannie Spencer
EDGAR YOUNG
ALLIE HOOK – Hooksburg, Ohio
BESSIE BARNES – Hooksburg, Ohio
To my teacher
Your faithful scholar
Dessie E. Filkil
FRED DAVIS
HOWARD D. BARNES
HIRAM JASON (illegible last name)
POOL HOOK – Hooksburg, Ohio
GOOL HOOK – Hooksburg, Ohio
Use your own imagination when you think of the several surnames – brothers and sisters? And unique names such as Lizzie & Lillie – twins? And the last couple boys? Pool and Gool? What names to give a child! Remember, the one line entries were no doubt by first grade children, these were printed in large or capital letters.
*****
THE WORDWRIGHT comments – I am sure most noticed the occurrence of old biblical terms: thee, thy and thou. I hope this serves as a clarification that “religion, God, and the Bible” were in fact part of our country’s educational curriculum in spite of what moderns trying to re-write the history of our country and claim religion, God and the Bible had no place in our country’s beginnings. The King James Version of the Bible is all our society had 127 years ago; far different than today’s almost unimaginable versions of the Bible, let alone the exacting translations of the Scripture since 1883. Ohio University’s motto is: Religion, Learning, Civility, Above All, Virtue. Ohio University was established in 1804 and is the oldest university in the Northwest Territory. My great-grandfather attended there at the time the university went co-educational.