Woodnorth Consolidated School #1533: TEACHERS 1910 to 1968 & Revenue & Expenditures 1910 to 1918

First Woodnorth School opens in 1910

According to the Woodnorth community history in Trails Along the Pipestone (published by the R.M. of Pipestone History Project, 1981) the first school in Woodnorth, Manitoba opened in 1910, with one teacher and fourteen pupils, housed in the British American coal shed. There is a picture of the class and their teacher Miss Hanna Jean Haw in the book on page 724.

Although the Minutes of the School Board from the early years have not yet been found, the record books of Revenue and Expenditures survive. Images of the pages for 1910 through 1918 are posted below. Although the ledger contained seventy-five double pages, only twelve pages were used. At the end of the school year in 1918 the books were closed off and the remaining funds were transferred to the new Consolidated School that Woodnorth had formed with the Daybreak community whose school had burned down.

These entries give a picture of the costs associated with this early school and of the sources of revenue for the school district. Some money came from the Province of Manitoba but the bulk of the funds were provided by local ratepayers and by the R.M. of Pipestone in which the town and its school were located. Occasionally, other small sums were deposited such as the twenty-five cents passed on in March 1916, by the teacher, from a scholar, to cover the cost of a broken window.

The recording of the teachers’ salaries also gives us the names of the teachers who served the community. There is further biographical information about some of the teachers in the Manitoba Historical Society’s website under the heading “Memorable Manitobans”.

Where I have a photo of the teacher I have included it as well, the better to remember and recognize those who taught at Woodnorth School. Some married and remained in the community while others moved on to teach elsewhere. There are also photos of school classes and teachers for the years 1951, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1968 in another section of this website. The teachers included in those pictures are marked below with an asterisk * and can be seen with the classes they taught at: WOODNORTH, Manitoba, Canada

Most teachers taught for the usual School Year from Sept to June unless otherwise noted.

TEACHERS at Woodnorth School from 1910 through June 1918 include:

1910/11 Miss Hanna Jean HAW

1911/12 Mr. Montague SHORE (c.1861-1944)

1912/14 Miss Mary JORDAN (b. 1894) of the Woodnorth district

1914/16 Miss E.G. MARTIN

Sept 1916 to end of Dec 1917 – Miss Mary MUIR (1888-1977) of Deloraine, Manitoba. Early in 1918 she married local farmer, merchant and member of the School Board, Joseph Pattinson Richardson. She later served on the Woodnorth School Board herself, in the 1920s.

J.P. and Mrs Richardson – Version 4 — **Miss Mary Muir (1888 -1977)** (later Mrs J.P. Richardson)

Jan – June 1918 – Miss L. INKSTER

WOODNORTH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL OPENS IN 1918

The books for the one room school were closed off at the end of the 1918 school year and the WOODNORTH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL opened in the Fall 1918 with two classrooms and two teachers, one of whom was hired to be the School Principal. In September 1924 they opened a third classroom and started to employ three teachers each year. For some years (e.g. 1944 – 52) the number of teachers dropped back to two. Not sure why this was – perhaps for financial reasons, lack of enrollment, or difficulty in recruitment.

The High School closed in June 1962 and students from Woodnorth were bused to Virden Collegiate, fourteen miles away. The remaining two rooms, serving grades 1 through 8 remained open until June 1968. After this date the elementary school children were also bused to Virden. It seems that grades seven and eight were bused a little earlier – sometime between the Fall of 1963 and the Fall of 1967 as the final photographs of the Woodnorth School classes include only Grades one to six.

TEACHERS at Woodnorth Consolidated School 1918- 1968:

Most of the names and dates have been extracted from the Woodnorth School Board Revenue and Expenditure Account Books (where they exist) as the teachers’ salaries there are listed by name. I have assumed that the person getting paid the higher salary was the Principal but have not always confirmed that by searching through the Minutes. Dates refer to the school year – Fall thru the next June – unless otherwise noted.

1918/19 – Miss P. G. DAVIS (Principal)

1918/19 – Miss R. ROSENBLAT

1919/20 – Miss Ada HERKES (Principal),(1895-?) from Nova Scotia. Later taught in Virden.

Sept – Dec 1919 – Miss LANG

1920/26 – Mr. William Stanley LOCKHART (1896-1978) (Principal) from Selkirk, Manitoba. He married Phyllis Garside Holt (1902-1986) of Woodnorth in June 1925.

Jan 1920 – Miss CHRISTIE – seems to have filled in for just a couple of weeks.

Jan – Dec 1920 Miss E. E. McPHADEN

Jan 1921 to June 1922 Miss H. BRAY

Jan- Dec 1923 – Miss G. I. GIBSON (and a temporary stint in April 1925).

Jan – June 1924 – Miss Jeanette TURNBULL from Elva, Manitoba

Sept 1924 – June 1927 – Miss Sarah Ellen COOK (1901-1931). In 1929 she married Woodnorth farmer and School Board member, Gordon Mooney (1905-1987).

Screen Shot 2020-01-28 at 7.07.50 PM 2.jpg — **Sarah Ellen Cook (1901-1931),** later Mrs Gordon Mooney –*photo courtesy of Sandy McKellar*

1924/25 – Miss I.E. BLAKEMAN

Dec 1924 – Miss. S.E. BLAKEMAN (one month only, filling in for illness perhaps).

1925/26 Miss L. MUMMERY

1926/27 – Mr. James. B. SMALLEY (Principal)

1926/ April 1927 Miss A.E. DAFOE – May& June filled in by Miss D.E. NORTH

1927/29 Joseph Edwin Murphy (1897-1973) (Principal)

1927/28 Miss Rae Bulloch

1927- April 1928 Miss E. Wilkins

May/June 1928/1930 Miss A. J. Reid

1928/1931 Miss H. Sheriden

1929/1931 Mr John Samuell Dickison (1906-1995) (Principal)

1931/33 Mr James Cameron Martin (1910-1982) (Principal)

1931/33 Miss Kay Moore and Miss Mary Evelyn Greenway (1906-1984)

**Miss M. Evelyn Greenway (1906-1984)**. She was a granddaughter of Thomas Greenway who was Premier of Manitoba from 1888-1900.

1933/36 Miss Beulah Beryl McNevin (1896-1963) (Principal)

1933/34 D.J. Duncan

1934/36 Miss E. Hanley

1936/37 Mr Frederick Adam Hodgkinson (1912-2004) (Principal)

1936/39 Miss Della Shoemaker (1912-2000) of Woodnorth district. She married Ian Cameron of Woodnorth in 1941.

**Miss Della Shoemaker,** 1912-2000 (later Mrs. Ian Cameron)

1937/38 Charles Griggs (He seems to have been Principal for the first four months of the school year)

Jan 1938/June 1939 Oliver Clayton Bricker (1900-1992) (Principal)

1939/41 Mr Arthur Neilson (1908-1975) (Principal) and A. Hall

1941/42 Miss Campbell (Principal) and Miss Kay Smith

1942/44 Miss Jessie Murray Hannah from Carberry, Manitoba (1916 – 2017) (Principal). In July 1944 Jessie Hannah married the Reverend John Wilkinson (1917-2017) who was Minister at the Woodnorth United Church in 1943/44.

Jessie Hannah 021 (3) — **Miss Jessie Murray Hannah** (1916-2017) *Photo courtesy of Sharon Enns, niece of Miss Hannah.*

1942/43 O. Perlette and B. McAuley

1943/44 Miss J. Campbell (Sept – Dec) and E. Wilson (Jan-June)

1943/45 Miss Katherine (Kay) Isabella Smith (1922-2011) (Principal for 44/45) She married George Shoemaker of Woodnorth in July 1945.

**Katherine Isabella (Kay) Smith** (1922-2011), later Mrs George Shoemaker. *Photo courtesy of Ken Shoemaker*

1944/45 – Miss Gladys C. McLEAN. From April thru June 1945 Mrs R. CAULFIELD also taught.

1945/46 – Miss Gladys McLEAN (Principal)

1945/46 – Miss Constance HALLIDAY

1946/47 – Mr. G.W. DENSTEDT (Principal)

1946/48 – Miss Nancy PITTENDREIGH from Rapid City, Manitoba. In October 1947 she married Glen Gardiner, farmer in the Boss Hill district, and is then listed as Mrs. G. GARDINER.

**Miss Nancy Pittendreigh,** later Mrs Glen Gardiner.

1947/48 – Mrs Gladys WEBSTER (Principal)

1948/51 – Mrs Julia JOHNSON* (Principal). She boarded with Donald and Susan Munro in Woodnorth.

1948/49 Miss Doreen BLACKMORE

1949/51 – Miss Pat DYBISH*, who married farmer Allan Gardiner and remained in Woodnorth district.

1951/53 – Mr. Bohdan (Bud) DANYLCHUK (Principal) (1926-2019). From the Fall of 1951 until the end of June 1962 School Principals lived in the Manse which belonged to the Woodnorth United Church.

This is the former United Church Manse in 1980 when it had become a private home. It looks much the same as it did from 1951 to 1962 when it was home to the Woodnorth School Principals. The School is just across the street. Sally (Cameron) Forsyth in front.

1951/53 Mrs Budd (Flora) DANYLCHUK

1952/53 – Miss Yvonne LOISELLE*

1953-1963 – Miss Viola HILL* (1900-1988) (grades 1-4) of Lenore, MB.

1953/54 Mrs. Alma Elaine (Newton) CARNOCHAN (Principal) (1922-2011)

Alma Carnochan 1955-56.jpg — **Alma Elaine CARNOCHAN (1922-2011)** Photo courtesy of Edith Carnochan Burnside.

1953/55 – Miss Olga MAZUR (grades 5-8)

1954/55 Mr. Clayton ALLEN (Principal)

1955/56 Mr. Victor BOLDT (Principal)

1955/56 – Miss Mary VanDenBOSSCHE (grades 5-8)

1956-1959 – Miss Heather ANDERSON (1937-2016) (grades 5-8) of Oak Lake, MB.

Heather Anderson joined the Canadian Navy shortly after teaching at Woodnorth and I think this picture was taken as she pursued that career. (Photo courtesy of Keith and Brenda Cameron.)

1956/62 Mr. Dalton J. BURKE* (1892-1966) (Principal) ( grades 9-11)

fullsizeoutput_1d4d 2.jpg — **Mr Dalton Burke (1892-1966)**

1959-1960 – Miss Joan WYLLIE* (grades 5-8) of Monominto, MB.

1960-1961 – Miss Bertha KRAMER* (grades 5-8) from Saskatchewan, granddaughter of Principal Dalton Burke

1961-62 Mr. Marc CHISHOLM (grades 5-8)

Fall of 1962 to June 1967 – I am still trying to find the names of teachers from this period. Two names have been identified but not the year(s) they were there: George Ferley and Jim Mudry.

1967-1968 Mrs. Mildred HARKNESS* (Principal) (grades 5-8)