Wolfe Island School: S.S.#13 Does anyone have a photo of this school??? Built: Before 1851 Location: Con 19 lot 9 Closed: After 1943 At present: Still standin? In 1878 on Ebin Joslins land W1/2 lot 9 Conc 19. 1897 moved a quarter mile further east on land owned by George Gillespie (Con 19 Lot 9 W1/2 of E1/2) Note on status of No.13 in 1853
From E.E. Horsey:S.S.#13 [ St.Lawrence School] new 1897. Free Methodist - worship Post Office section of island, teachers from U. S. From Wolfe Island Women’s Institute, Tweedsmuir books- Theresa Broeders: The first school at the foot of Wolfe Island was built of logs. It was situated about where Mr. Chas. Gillespie's new mail -box is. There was no playground accept the road. It was smaller than this building and fences were used for seats. It was used for Free Methodist Church and Prayer meeting during the week nights. The present school was built there and later moved to the present site in 1897. The old building was sold to Mr.Joslin who used it for a hay barn.Three quarters of an acre was then purchased from Mr. George Gillespie for a playground.[Glen Joslin said remembers his grandfather saying they moved the first school because it was built on a poison ivy patch]. For many years the school was independent. No government grants were received. The teachers were quite often hired from the United States. The salary was small, so the teachers boarded around staying about a week in a place. The name St.Lawrence was given the school because the Post Office was called that. [marked on the 1878 map] The post office was removed when rural mail started in 1920. The shed was built and the cement wall put under the school in 1925. The first fence around the school was one with fancy leaves on the tops of the virtical wires. The present fence was put on about 1923. The flagpole was bought and erected in 1917. During 1926 the teacher,Miss Murial MacDougal varnished the seats and started oiling the floor. The school has always been heated by a box stove with the acception of three years. During that time a furnice and a Quebec Heater proved unsatisfactory and the box stove which had been sold was rebought. Wood has always been burned for fuel. When the furnice was installed the double chimney with an air flute was built. The storm windows were bought in 1927. 
 Click on photos for larger versions Muriel (MacDougal) Joslin and her Indians of P.S. #13 won second prize at the school fair. Date between 1925 &1930 as those were the years she taught (see below) Photos from Theresa Broeders The only visitors have been the inspectors, Dr. Agnew of Kingston, Dr. Spankie of Wolfe Island, Mr. A. Truscott of Kingston, and Mr. F. P. Smith who visits the school semi-yearly. On May 20,1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Kingston and the pupils of St. Lawrence school went to see them .The pupils were: Maynard Woodman, Douglas Niles, Audrey Niles, Glen Joslin, June Gillespie, and Jean Niles. In the Spring of 1937 the teacher had small plot ploughed at the back of the school for a school garden. The garden was a success and the vegetables used in the winter for hot lunches. In 1939 the plot was ploughed larger ,6sq.rds. and each pupil had their own plot for the first time. In Dec. 1940 ,six new blinds were purchased. In 1941-42 the pupils peiced a large quilt and donated it to the Red Cross. They also peiced the top for a crib quilt to be made up and given in the summer. During the school year 1942-43 money was invested in War Saving Stamps and a donation made to the Navy League of Canada. In regards to "The Foot School..." From Theresa: I spoke to Joan O'Shea our current Tweedsmuir History Curator who said she copied the notes from our past curator, Marion MacDonnell which stated that S.S.S.#7 was called the Foot School. I also talked to Doreen Joslin[St. Lawrence Women's Institute member] about which public school was considered and called the foot school and she said S.S.#13 until it closed and then S.S.#8 which makes sense. So #7 was the Catholic Foot School and St. Lawrence[#13] was the Public Foot school, then Breakey's Bay[#8]. The following info doesn't all totaly agree with the above, but I'm adding it anyways in hope someone can say what is what... It has been noted from the minute books that members of the Joslin family, namely A.,W., and H. did almost all of the caretaking starting at a salary of $10.00 in 1912 to $15.00 in 1918 and by 1941 had rise to $25.00. The odd note was made of the school being cleaned for $2.00. Facts worth noting were: 1914 a coal stove was purchased. 1916 a furnace was installed for $60.00 coal cost 10.00 a ton 1935 a new stove to be bought 1918 Oct 31 flag pole was purchased 1938 Mrs. Isobel McTavish taught music The above information has been copied from the minute books of P.S.S. 13 Mrs. William Gillespie was Sec-Tres. from 1912 -1937 Submitted by Theresa Broeders Transcribed by Dean Snider MEMORIES OF TEACHING IN S.S. #13 ST. LAWRENCE SCHOOL Wolfe Island I came from Glengarry county to Kingston by train January 2, 1925 and was met by Mr. Charles Gillespie, driving a team of horses (one lame) and we drove across the ice, through fields, occasionally on roads for a very long time through a snow storm and finally arrived at my boarding place home of Mr. and Mrs. H.W. Justin to take up position as teacher of S.S. #13 school. I will never forget my first day (in the first day) of teaching on m y own after graduating from Ottawa Normal School. I really felt lost. Toward spring the children and I decided it would be nice to do some spring cleaning so we cleaned and oiled the floor, varnished the desks and painted the iron work. In early fall we participated in the School Fair and due to the fact our attendance was low and we had some children who worked hard and won many prizes. Our school won the School Fair Trophy Cup each year. We joined in the parade – one year in costumes of Sailors and another year as “Indians”. During the fall we carried in the cords of wood, piled outside in the preceding winter and piled it in the shed to be used to feed our huge box stove during the winter. In winter we had hot lunches – later we purchased a pipe oven to help us have different hot meals. each year we had a Christmas concert – with platform tree, decorations, and full evening program with Santa. On Arbor Day we cleaned yard and buildings, planted trees, and dug up flower beds, there in the PM the parents were invited to join us in our picnic. We always had a J.R.C.(needs translation) program on Friday P.M. and sent in our collection of pennies at close of school term. I was very pleased when our inspector Mr. S.A. Truscott made a special trip to our school to tell me that one of my pupils had made 100% in his entrance examination in Arithmetic. He was the only one that had done this in Mr. Truscott’s inspectorate. I enjoyed my teaching period in this little school and still remember the pupils I had and really enjoyed keeping up the friendly relationships with them. By Mrs. Muriel Joslin Submitted by Theresa Broeders Transcribed by Dean Snider ST. LAWRENCE S.S. #13 1937 -- 1944 A “Pupils’s Eye” View Nursery school and kindergarten were unknown on Wolf Island in 1937, so I was an “Oldster” of six years on a golden morning in September when first I walked the half mile up our lane to the road, turned right along the gravel highway for another quarter of a mile and entered “St. Lawrence S.S. #13” for the beginning of my formal education. Mind you, the school property was actually situated on a corner of my Dad’s farm, but the more direct route through the fields held many obstacles, such as swampy parts, thistles, burrs, barbed wire fences, and last, definitely not least, an unfriendly bull. I immediately fell in love with my grade one teacher, Miss Anne Barr. She gave me my very own desk right at the front, and a wonderful reader, Peter, John and Mary. I saw all the letters of the alphabet printed so beautifully across the top of the black board, and I remember thinking how much she must know to be able to print like that. There were numbers too, but unfortunately, right from the beginning, they never held much interest for me. Arithmetic was always the cloud in my sunny school days, and I firmly believe I only passed this subject because of the kindness and resignation (?) of my teachers. (this kid will never get it). There was only one other pupil in my grade all through public school and the most I can remember being in all the grades would have been eight. What fun we had at recesses and noon hours. In the good weather we played ball, tag, hide and seek, and marbles. We loved to trade sandwiches, (one always hoped one would get a catsup one),. Then we’d climb up in the apple tree in the yard and eat our lunch. In the winter we enjoyed the warmth of the stove in the middle of the room, and the delicious lunches we’d have of beets or carrots that came from the garden plot at the back of the school. We loved going out into the wood shed to play hide the button or blindman’s bluff, or dress very warm and play Fox and Goose in the deep snow outside. Across the road the fields would sometimes flood and the skating would be great. It was always fun when our music teacher, Mrs. Isabel McTavish, would come (sometimes it interrupted arithmetic—hurrah). I loved to sing , and because I made the most noise, I got to sing Silent Night all by myself in the Christmas Concert one year. We would go together with a neighboring school for our concerts, and oh the excitement of learning our lines for the plays and recitations. When the big night finally came, Dad would bundle Mom and I up under the buffalo robe in the sleigh with heated bricks at our feet, and off we would go the five miles through the frosty night to S.S. #8. The whole community came – even Santa Claus. One year I thought it rather strange that he wore the very same kind of Overshoes my Dad had. We always got a candy cane and an orange. Another exciting time was when Mrs. McTavish had all her pupils gather in the hall in Portsmouth for a spring recital. We all were to be dressed as flowers (I can’t remember about the boys) . I got to be a Tulip, and my mother made me a costume out of red crepe paper. I wasn’t supposed to sit down all the way over on the boat for fear of crushing my petals. Our field trips didn’t usually include places like the Science Centre in Toronto. Rather, we would have “Arbour Day” the first of May and take our lunch into the woods to study all the new little trees and plants, and have marshmallows for a special treat. One never to be forgotten experience however came in May 1939 when all the county school children gathered in Richardson Stadium to see King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth. We had to be in our seats such a long time before they came that Mom bought me a bunch of Butterscotch suckers. In all the excitement I succeeded in getting one stuck in the hair of a little girl in front of me. Getting it our certainly passed the time for a few of us. One’s school memories are not always happy of course, and the most upsetting one for me happened one bitterly cold January day when the thermometer read 30 degrees below zero. My Dad usually came for me with the team and sleigh in such weather, but this day he had to go to Kingston for supplies, so my Mom walked to meet me to make sure I was dressed warm enough. As a result she froze both her legs, and by the time she got to school her knees were very swollen. The teacher made her sit close to the stove until they began to get some feeling in them. I remember how hard I cried thinking she would never walk again and it was my fault. The Second World War brought new tasks for us to do. We formed a Junior Red Cross and saved money for the Navy League. The quietness of our Island was shattered by the Harvard training planes from Norman Rogers Air Field. We would all run into the yard to wave at the pilots as they swooped down low tipping their wings to us. I can remember how well we could see their faces in the cockpit. What exciting lives they seemed to have—how little we knew----. Approaching the teen years and growing vaguely restless, then, as now, seemed to go hand in hand. Near the back of the school yard was a big boulder that we would sit on and make profound observations about life—boys—the world events and our future. When we were in grade seven one of my friends told me her family was moving to a different farm, how I envied her. We had always lived in the same house and I visualized myself being buried from there—nothing exciting ever happened to me. Well, unfortunately shortly afterward circumstances forced my mother and I to spend the next six years moving frequently. many time I wished I could have eaten my words, or turned back the clock. I know the education I received in that rural school didn’t have all the “extras” that my girls enjoyed—gymnasium, libraries, great trips, organized sports meets; but, looking back, I see it as a time of great stability, peace, and happiness, and I wouldn’t trade places for the world. Collins Bay, 1980 June Gillespie Lane Teachers:From Annual Reports:1855-A Holmes 1856-Elizabeth Rattray 1857-Cornelia Hay 1858-Sarah B Carver 1859-A Johnson 1860-1-Luna M Watkins 1862-Wm Ferguson 1863-Irene Weaver 1864-66-Lucy M Robinson 1867-8-Elizabeth Rattray 1869-70-Annie Raftery From Wolfe Island Women’s Institute, Tweedsmuir books- Theresa Broeders: 1911 - Mary D. McFarlane 1912 - 13 Miss Mae Cramer 1914 Miss Helen Welsh 1915 Hazel Woodman 1916 Miss Gladys Moore 1917 Miss Ella Spence 1918 Helen wood 1918 - 19 Violet Bradshaw 1919 - 20 Miss Josephine Milne 1920 Vyolet H. Hamer 1921 Mrs. Maggie A. Keeler 1921 - 22Miss Katie Doyle 1922 Kathleen Clow 1923 - 24 Miss Margaret Matheson 1925-30 Miss Murial MacDougal 1931 Miss Topping 1931 - 32 Miss Murial Thompson 1932 - 40 Miss Anne Barr 1940 -41 Mrs. Mary Bell 1941 - 42 Mrs. Cora Bongard 1943 - 45 Mrs. Monty Fawcett * Miss Murial MacDougal became Murial Joslin and Miss Anne Barr became Anne Joslin notes in brackets are mine[Theresa] Also see: Teachers Class PhotosClass PhotosIf you have class photos to add please email me! If you have more informatin, or photos on this school please email me! The Islands:Wolfe Island School: S.S.#13
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