It’s week 35
of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and it’s back to school time!
My maternal
grandparents observed a family tradition that their children would attend
boarding school from an early age. Their oldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth was in
boarding school at the age of 6 as indicated by the 1900 census.[i]
Her uncle Fr Michael Fleming appeared on the next line of the census as a
chaplain at the school. Was this why Michael and Alice choose to send their
first born child on the long journey from Chicago to Adrian, Michigan? Did the
fact that their local parish did not have an elementary school factor into the
decision? We will never know but that is when a tradition was born. Mary’s
sisters Kathleen, Alice, Pauline and Eleanor followed in her footsteps while
baby sister Elizabeth attended another school but still a boarding school.
Brothers Thomas and John also attended boarding school but in Wisconsin.
Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin was a parochial run by the
Jesuit priests. The boarding school tradition extended to the Walsh family of
Port Huron, Michigan, cousins of the Connerys.
Getting
ready for school then meant having enough clothing for most likely two weeks of
wear, depending on the laundry schedule of the school. Each child would have a small trunk or
foot locker to take their clothes to school in.
As clothing was purchased and
prepared for packing it was placed in the trunk. Each item had to be marked
with the student’s name. The name had to be permanent and legible. Most likely
it was painstakingly embroidered. The trunk also needed to hold personal care
items, towels, shoes, and anything else the student might need. |
| Google images |
Fast forward
to the 1940s and 1950s when my siblings and I were getting ready to “Go Back to
School”. We got new shoes in the fall at the beginning of the school
year. It was also when we got a new outfit or two. To preserve our new clothes, it was our habit to come home from school and change into “play clothes and
shoes”.
Beginning kindergarten meant you had to get special things for school!
You needed a “nap rug” and a “paint smock”. Mom was usually able to provide
these from within her home inventory. A bath mat from in front of the tub was
the right size and could easily be washed and one or dad’s shirts was a paint
smock when worn backwards with the sleeves rolled up.
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| google images |
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| google images |
As we joined
the older grades we “needed” a cigar box to decorate to hold pencils, scissors,
and crayons so they didn’t get lost in our desks. Books brought home from
school needed covers to protect them. The large grocery bags mom brought home
from the store were perfect for any size book and we could color a design on
the front along with printing our name at the top right corner. About 7th or 8th grade we would acquire the ubiquitous blue canvas binder. The blue canvas cover was perfect for personalizing with doodles and initials.
School for us,
usually began the day after Labor Day and we would excitedly dress in our new clothes
and shoes for the walk to school. We might have used a “school bag” at some
point but we never carried a lunch bag since we lived only a block from school
and came home for lunch. Since we had an hour for lunch, if we hurried home we
could watch “Lunchtime Little Theater” while we ate our PB&Js.
Customs have
evolved over time and “First Day of School” pictures weren’t a thing then like
they are now but then cameras then were bulky and flash bulbs and film were expensive.
You also had to wait for pictures to be developed which meant a trip to the
drugstore with the film and usually about a week later you could go back to get
your pictures, hoping they had turned out. Social media did not exist for sharing either!
“Back to
School” has changed over time, school supply lists are longer, now including
things like hand sanitizer and Kleenex, but they reflect our greater awareness of the needs local community and the fact that school funding has been reduced. I see less
emphasis on new school clothes and shoes, much to the chagrin of the stores advertising “Back to School” sales. High schools no longer require that
students have a slide ruler, now it’s a scientific calculator. High school students taking advanced classes
now need their own computers since their college level texts are on line. These
are good changes and we need to take advantage of the advances science has
made.
[i] Year:
1900; Census Place: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan; Page: 5; Enumeration District:
0039; FHL microfilm: 1240725
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