Christmas in a One-Room School with Four Wee Cousins
Ida Jorgine Wee: 1889-1960 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x
Removed)
Nellie M. Wee: 1894-1927 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
Gilbert Andrew Wee: 1895-1974 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x
Removed)
Wilhelm “Willie” Wee: 1898-1981 (Paternal Second Cousin 1x
Removed)
I recently ran across a charming school photo on a Facebook
page devoted to my hometown of Hanska, Minnesota. I was delighted to discover that four of the
children in the photo were second cousins once removed, four of Anders Olsson Wee (sometimes spelled Vee) and
Sigrid Olsdatter Holseter Skaar Wee’s ten children.
The photo was taken inside the District 67 one-room
schoolhouse in Lake Hanska Township. The students and teacher are gathered
around a Christmas tree, so we know the photo was taken in December. The person
who posted the image thought the photo was taken in 1905. He identified the Wee
children, and I have drawn arrows pointing them out on the photo below.
Assuming the 1905 date is correct, the Wee children were the
following ages in the photo:
Nellie, the second girl from the very right, would have been
about eleven years old.
Ida, the taller girl at her far right, would have been
nearly sixteen, so would likely have been in her last year of schooling.
Gilbert was the fourth child in the front row. He would have
been ten years old.
Willie Wee was the second child from the right in the front
row, and he was just seven years old.
I love this photo so much. The details paint a picture of
school days in rural Minnesota. The teacher, identified as a Mr. Batson, was at
the back on the far right. He was dressed neatly in a suit and tie. Teachers
were expected to set a good example, and children were expected to respect them
as authority figures and important members of the community. Formal clothes
helped to meet those expectations.
The children were also dressed up. I suspect this photo was
taken on the occasion of a Christmas show or pageant. While the boys are not
wearing ties, they are wearing jackets. These suit jackets would have been part
of their Sunday church-going attire. The girls are also very neatly dressed.
The Wee girls are wearing lovely dresses, and the other girls are wearing
bright pinafores over high-necked blouses and skirts. Some of them have pretty
bows in their hair, which was carefully curled. The other girls, including Ida
and Nellie, have their hair pulled back and piled up. It appears the children
were dressed up to perform for their parents.
Three of the girls are wearing glasses, so it appears the
farmers in Lake Hanska could afford to take their children to an eye doctor.
The Christmas tree is decorated with long garlands of
popcorn, which the children would have strung themselves using needle and
thread. The tree also sports other handmade decorations. However, the tree
itself is a sad, spindly thing. Was this the normal appearance of Christmas
trees in that era, or was this just an exceptionally poor specimen?
I was fascinated to see that the school sported a sort of
stage or raised platform. The students in front are sitting on the step or edge
of the platform. Is this where the teacher’s desk usually sat, or was this a
portable, temporary stage used for special events? If this was where the
teacher usually sat, I would have expected to see the chalkboard behind the
students, but it appears to be a wall with a shuttered window high above them.
The school would have featured a wood-burning stove to heat the building, but
that is not visible. Even so, I am sure the schoolroom would have been chilly
on that December day.
Mr. Batson had a difficult job. The wide age range of the
children would have presented a huge challenge. Little Willie would have been a
first or second grader at the most, and the little girl in the dark dress just
behind the first two boys appears even younger—six at most. There were a couple
of teenagers, including Ida, who would have needed high-school-level work, and
a wild assortment of ages and grade levels in-between.
I was able to find one photo of the exterior of the District
67 school. It is a very blurry image, but we can see that the building had
steps in front leading inside, a stone foundation and wooden walls, likely
painted white. The classroom would have had decent lighting from the four tall
windows on each of the two long walls. That photo shows a bicycle leaning
against the school, so at least one student used a bicycle to get to school.
Most probably walked. I read somewhere that the Wee farm was very near the
school, so Ida, Nellie, Willie and Gilbert had a blessedly short walk on the
frigid days of winter.
I love old school photos. They provide a glimpse of what
school was like for our ancestors. Seeing the Wee children, their teacher and
their school makes me grateful for the better-equipped school I attended, and
for the modern ones my children graduated from and those my grandchildren will
be privileged to attend. As local students head back to school next week, I
hope they realize how lucky they are.
Sources:
Photo posted by Joel Botton on At Home in Hanska Facebook
page.
