when in doubt, check the manuscript
Where exactly did Almanzo go to school? Who was Miles Lewis? Who was Mr. Corse? Who was Jonas Lane? Based on their historical age differences, were Almanzo and Royal ever in school together? Why did Laura fudge the ages of the Wilder children so much? Did Almanzo really wear a waistband full of brass buttons to school? And was the school term ten weeks shorter after Mr. Corse beat the crap out of the Ritchie gang?

I've been having a hard time getting into Farmer Boy this time around. So I read my notes and files. I deciphered a few deeds. I made pancakes. I looked at my photos and videos, and I read some old research letters. I spent time on ancestry, seeing if there was anything new. I read the back issues of Farmer Boy News. Finally I read the manuscript!

I still wonder about Mr. Corse and Miles Lewis, but not so much about Almanzo's school location. Reflections: A Brief History of Burke says that the school was District 8, and the schoolhouse was at the corner of today's Perham Road just south of the Wilder Farm. I talked to some people in Malone this summer who think that's the one. That schoolhouse is clearly marked on the 1876 map, but the Wilders were no longer living in New York at that time. There's an 1851 map at the courthouse (FBN says it's from 1858 - see the Spring/Summer 1987 issue; did I misread the date on the map, I wonder?) and there is indeed a schoolhouse indicated in the Perham Road location, although it is no longer standing. One problem is that school records exist from about 1911 on, and Farmer Boy is supposedly set in about 1866.

Over the years, Farmer Boy News has contained several interesting articles about the Farmer Boy school. Was it Skeelsboro school (fictional Hardscrabble; the real Hardscrabble settlement was in Spring Valley, Minnesota) or the schoolhouse on Brainardsville Road in Bellmont Township? A schoolhouse is still standing in that location and the Wilder Museum showcases this school location in a display of maps and photographs. The description of the mile-and-a-half walk to the schoolhouse in Chapter 1 of Farmer Boy sure suggests that Laura was writing about the "way through the woods" to the Brainardsville Road School. When you remember that Laura Ingalls Wilder never visited the Malone area, it's quite remarkable that her fictional route can so easily be followed on the map today.

In the Farmer Boy manuscript, there is mention of several schools by number! Nick Brown, the tin peddler, tells a story that includes the following:

"...And that reminds me," he went on with a chuckle. "I was at No. 5 schoolhouse at meeting last Sunday and announcing the next meeting place Brother Rhodes said, 'The waters are pretty high between here and No. 4 schoolhouse, but I will preach there next Sunday if the Lord is willing. And I will preach at No. 3 schoolhouse, the Sunday after, whether or no. It's on this side of the creek!"

If you go by the school numbers on the 1876 map, District 2 is north of the Burke Post Office. No. 5 is to the west, No. 4 is immediately north, and No. 3 is to the east. The Little Trout River (the creek?) lies between 4 and 5. All are pretty far from the Wilder property.

But the manuscript also includes this about Almanzo's school:

...The big boys who sat on the back seats were as large as the teacher and nearly as old. They all lived in Hardscrabble neighborhood, up above Hardscrabble Hill and they went to school only in the winter. It was their boast that no teacher could finish out the winter term at No. 7 schoolhouse and since they had become the "big boys" of the school, no teacher had.

In Burke Township, District No. 7 (in 1876, mind you) was located north of the railroad tracks and northwest of Burke; again, quite a distance from the Wilder farm.

District No. 7 schoolhouse in Bellmont Township, however, is the one on Brainardsville Road, just down the road, down a hill, and through the woods, one and a half miles from the Wilder farm. The 1876 township maps for Burke and Bellmont don't quite line up, but the bits shown above include the two schoolhouse locations, the Wilder Farm, and the approximate route to No. 7.
- posted by pioneergirl at 3:43 PM